The relationship between family, school and health services was analyzed considering the development and care of children living in a low income neighborhood. We understand care as quality attention provided by adults and also as the day-to-day practical construction of personal projects, a process marked by power relations. We conducted participant observation and interviews with residents in the neighborhood studied and with health professionals and education workers. From among these a representative case was selected. The analysis identified differences in the way professionals talk about children with low school performance. By contrast in family and kinship spaces a different way of thinking about education operates, in that children encounter an expanded view of themselves and of their potential. We stress as a vital necessity that studies include all the different day-to-day contexts that comprise children's experiences and emphasize that professionals and workers take into consideration and attribute value to the perspective of the family and relatives.
Child Care; Child development; School; Family