[Family odysseys: the search for infant mental health care]

The aim was to analyze the peregrination of families of children treated in a Center for Psychosocial Care for Children and Adolescents in their search for mental health care. The study included participant observations at the clinic and focus groups with the children's families. The qualitative study used institutional analysis as the theoretical and methodological reference, and the material was discussed in light of the approach to psychosocial care. The families' search in the face of the child's psychological distress is a prime indicator for assessing strengths and weaknesses in building the network of care, and for revealing the families' understanding of their children's mental health problems and treatments. The study found contradictory forces at play in daily care, demonstrating both the provider's transformative force and occasionally the user's crystallization and maintenance. In this sense, the hegemonic model - disease-centered, fragmenting patients and their care - has been challenged by the instituting force that proposes to reposition the patient and incorporate psychological distress as part of overall health, linking services and actions in a model of care. Despite the tangled maze that families face in their peregrination for care, strides have been made in psychosocial care, while highlighting challenges. Such progress has been anchored in relational technologies (shelter, bonding, trust, and accountability) with the various actors involved in the care.