Dr. Vișinel Bălan, Director General of DGASPC Giurgiu (Romania), in conversation with CESS faculty Camelia Măianu. RSVP before October 2nd.

Vișinel Bălan is Romania's most prominent activist on behalf of institutionalized youth and one of the most significant voices on child welfare reform. He was abandoned at 2 months old, raised in state institutions, and aged out of the system at 18 with no resources or preparation for independent life. This lived experience has become the foundation of his life's work. He holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Bucharest, where his dissertation (a rigorous mixed-methods study of 627 institutionalized youth and 70 care leavers across Romania) documented the neglect, abuse, and systematic failure of the child protection system to prepare young people for independent life. He is the founder of multiple national advocacy organizations for institutionalized children and care leavers, the co-founder of EDFORSO, the first therapeutic center in Romania dedicated to abandoned children, and the author of 2 books on post-institutional life. In June 2025, he was appointed Director General of DGASPC Giurgiu, where he directs a staff of 700 and is leading significant institutional reform. His visit offers our students and faculty direct engagement with a practitioner-scholar whose work combines lived experience, rigorous research, and leadership.

Learn more about Dr. Bălan before his visit to UVM.

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