O Serviço Social na proteção de adolescentes vítimas das drogas

Abstract

This undergraduate thesis analyzes the role of Social Work in protecting adolescents who are victims of drug-related vulnerabilities, understanding this phenomenon as one of the most complex expressions of the social question within Brazilian peripheral capitalism. The research is guided by the following question: How does Social Work act in the integral protection of adolescents made vulnerable by the drug phenomenon, and how do public policies and institutional practices influence this intervention? The study argues that youths’ involvement with drugs does not stem from isolated individual choices, but from a broader context shaped by social inequality, lack of effective public policies, racism, precarious access to rights, and the selective criminalization of poverty. In this scenario, adolescents living in peripheral territories are historically exposed to institutional practices that prioritize punitive responses over the comprehensive protection established by the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA). The general objective was to analyze the role of Social Work in protecting adolescents involved with drugs, identifying the ethical-political challenges that shape this field of practice. The specific objectives were: to examine the legal and institutional frameworks guiding drug policies; to understand the socioeconomic and cultural factors that contribute to youths’ insertion into drug-related dynamics; and to discuss professional intervention strategies grounded inrights promotion, prevention, harm reduction, and the strengthening of citizenship. Methodologically, this is a documentary and bibliographic research, qualitative in nature and guided by historical-dialectical materialism. The analysis covered legislation, regulations, and official reports, as well as scientific literature from classical and contemporary Social Work authors, selected according to criteria of thematic relevance, methodological consistency, and up-to-date academic contribution. The study concludes that confronting the vulnerabilities affecting adolescents requires intersectoral policies, humanized practices, and the overcoming of the repressive paradigm. The profession emerges as strategic in mediating rights, articulating protection networks, and constructing emancipatory practices grounded in the uncompromising defense of human rights.