In Brazil, in most cases, child custody is still unilateral and maternal, since it is assumed that it is natural that mothers with the help of fathers raise children. However, the enactment of the Law of Shared Guard (Law 11.968/08) has revived the debate on this naturalistic conception. Based on the Theory of Social Representations of Serge Moscovici, this article refers to a study that sought to investigate the social representations of child custody in the current context. Thirty people, inhabitants of Vitória / ES, with children under 18 years old were interviewed and their responses were interpreted through thematic content analysis. The findings indicate people's preference for a unilateral custody as well as their resistance to the shared guard due the connections made between the social representations of motherhood and fatherhood with those of child custody.
child custody; marital separation; parenting