This research aims to analyze the paternal-filial bonds of children and adolescents institutionally sheltered, afore, during and after foster care. It commences from the conception of paternity as a socio-historical construction, predicated on an intersectional and decolonial theoretical perspective, articulated with studies on black masculinities. To this end, the content of 39 medical records from two Social Reintegration Units in the city of Rio de Janeiro was analyzed, seeking to identify how fathers are mentioned, their living conditions and forms of participation in the lives of their children. The results show weaknesses in the paternal-filial bonds of those taken in, expressed in scarce documentation relating to the fathers in institutional records, nonessential presence in visits, situations of social vulnerability of the fathers, with reduced insertion in social policies. These findings demonstrate how historical processes make them socially vulnerable, with paternal absence inclining to become naturalized, making them invisible and not contributing to fortifying paternal-filial bonds between those being cared for and inverting the female encumbrance of caring for their offspring.