The Brazilian Child and Adolescent Statute was established in 1990. Since then many institutions have been created to attend adolescents. This study aimed to understand how these institutions have been organized in São Carlos, Northeast of São Paulo, Brazil. This is a descriptive study, whose data were collected through interviews with the directors of 20 institutions. They reported differences in terms of objectives, target public age, religious orientation, etc. While most institutions have focused on leisure activities and professional education, some of them attend only adolescents who have committed some kind of illegal act. Although there are many different ways to assist adolescents, it seems that their actions are not integrated towards the implementation of the Child and Adolescent Statute.
adolescent; public policies; public health
