01515nas a2200229 4500000000100000008004100001260002500042653001500067653001200082653001000094100001300104700001300117700001200130700001200142245009100154856004800245300001400293490000700307050001600314520094100330022001401271 2012 d c2012 May/AugbScielo10aMotherhood10aleprosy10aSense1 aAlmeida 1 aSavassi 1 aSchall 1 aModena 00aBeing a mother with leprosy: the experiences of separation due to compulsory isolation uhttp://www.scielo.br/pdf/epsic/v17n2/11.pdf a275 - 2820 v17 aALMEIDA20123 aBeing a mother with leprosy: the experiences of separation due to compulsory isolation. In the twentieth century, women with leprosy could not carry on their maternity because of the statement of compulsory isolation of patients, adopted to control the disease. Their children were taken at birth to prevention centers and the contact of mothers with their babies was only visual. In order to understand the experience of maternity in the leprosaria it was carried out an investigated narrative research with three mothers who lived through the period of compulsory internment. The speeches reveal two distinct moments in the experience of motherhood: the separation of the children with their subsequent return to home and the adoption of other children to achieve motherhood. It is considered that the adoption has promoted the meeting with the meaning of existence that had been broken and allowed the experience of being a parent.  a1413-294X