Objective:

To understand the social representations of family members of children and adolescents with mental disorders about the Psychosocial Care Center.

Method:

This was a qualitative and exploratory research based on the theoretical and methodological Social Representations framework developed with 19 family members in a service located in the middle backlands of Pernambuco, Brazil; this happened after the Ethics Committee (CAAE 66524717.2.0000.5196) approval. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews processed by the Iramuteq software; they were later interpreted through the Bardin's Content Analysis, displaying them graphically through a dendrogram.

Results:

The family members base their representations on the routine established by the service, which becomes part of their daily lives and plays an important role in: the social interaction of the participants, the possibilities that the service develops for the child/adolescent and in the whole family that attends the space through welcoming and monitoring, and the challenges that are still faced for a more effective care.

Conclusion:

The participants represented the service as important for establishing a routine that, despite the fact that it modifies the daily life of all family members, plays a valuable function in the user’s social interaction.