Professor of Developmental Psychology and Adoption and Out-of-home Care at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto
Head of Group for Research and Intervention in Out-of-Home Care and Adoption (GIIAA),
Department of Development and Education Psychology, Centre for Psychology at the University of Porto, whose main goal is the development of research projects to provide evidence for policy and practice in child welfare. Currently, she is the principal investigator of the AdoPT project: Adoptive families’ strengths, difficulties and service needs: a Portuguese follow-up, which is funded by FCT.
Maria Barbosa Ducharne’ s research and teaching interests are focused on child protection, particularly on adoption, foster and residential care of children and youth. Her research focuses mainly on the developmental pathways of children who underwent early adversity and were later adopted, reintegrated into their birth families, or stayed in alternative care. Concerning residential care, she directed the EQAR project – the Portuguese study on quality assessment, which allowed for recommendations for national policies.
As a researcher, she belongs to important groups such as the International Network on Infants and Toddlers and Child Protection and the International Research Network on Foster Care. She is also a member of the steering committee board of EUSARF (European Scientific Association on Residential Care for Children and Adolescents).
