The valorization of children s infantile aspect in contemporary society has created expectations regarding the demands for differentiated care to be offered for children. Simultaneously, situations involving several forms of mistreatment against infancy have been emphasized in society. In the hospitalar context, many children are victims of violence and negligence, which frequently occur inside their homes. This research has the goal to investigate how parents and main caretakers understand the meaning of adequate care to be offered to children, and how they make sense of the several forms of mistreatment against infancy, mainly children s negligence. One field study was conducted, during which we interviewed nine caretakers – seven mothers, one father, and a paternal grandmother – who accompanied hospitalized children in a state emergency hospital. Children aged from two months to four years-old. The objective was to understand how these caretakers perceive the phenomena of violence and negligence against children, considering the possible outcomes for children s development. The discursive data collected in interviews was analyzed. Eight categories of analysis emerged: risk factors and frailty of infantile body; feelings related to care conceptions; care practices generated by demands of affect; the role of families; the role of institutions; negligence in question; physical violence and sexual abuse; psychological violence. We concluded that the priorities in care relationships are directly related to the caretakers social-economic realities, as well as the specificities of each developmental phase. According to the perception of interviewed participants, mistreatment in infancy is considered extremely harmful to children s development.