“…Later, with the beginning of the Brazilian republic in 1889, the fight against illiteracy reinforced the concern to improve the protection of minors. 6 As in other countries, the state progressively became the main entity responsible for organising public assistance following the principles of scientific philanthropy (Viscardi, 2011;Souza, 2014). Neither Portugal nor Brazil had a public welfare system for children, although both countries had implemented several measures from the late nineteenth century.…”