Six years after the end of Ceausescu’s dictatorship in Romania, French volunteers became aware of the difficult conditions of Romania’s abandoned children. They came to Romania to investigate how their help and assistance could be used in the most positive manner to improve the situation of the abandoned children.

From the outset they focused on the most urgent situations aiming to give the most appropriate assistance. Aims, structures and actions were were chosen according to which ones would provide the most effective response to the needs. 

Phase 1 – 1995-1999 : Emergency help

Initially, children already in existing orphanage were identified as being in most urgent situation. The Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest, Corabia’s Hospital, Sisters of Mother Theresa in Bacau were all the recipients of assistance such as :

• Medical furniture, hospital beds, computers and laboratory equipment from parisian hospitals.
• Young volunteers (medical students) came to offer their help and experience 

Valentina, with the assistance of Saint Vincent de Paul International was set up in Romania in March 1999. The name of ‘’Valentina’’ was choosen in memory of an abandoned 10 months old baby girl,  called ‘’Valentina’’, in a Bucharest orphanage who died of a heart disease.

Phase 2 – 2000-2005 : Cooperation with Romanian Structures

As ‘’Valentina’’ developed and expanded its program of assistance they concentrated on working with the organisations and structures already in place in Romania:

• Day center for 17 children in Slatina,
• A children center in Bucharest (16 children),
• A religious institute in Bacau: Casa Sfanta Maria (70 children),
• Caminul Filip: an association helping Roma families,
• An orphanage for small children: Centrul Cotroceni (24 children),
• Centre nr 11, an orphanage for young children in Bucharest (200 children),
• A project in collagboration with the French Foreign Ministry "Collective Childhood Project Romania", in collaboration with Dr Dan Catana of Marie Curie Hospital providing financial support for Romanian children requiring surgery in France.

It became essential to have a local structure in Romania operated under Romanian law, therefore in February 2002, Valentina Romania was established and affiliated to the Romanian Federation of NGOs for the Protection of Children (F.O.N.P.C.). 

Phase 3 – 2004 to Date: “One child, One solution”

In order to help families under extreme pressure to stay together as a unit and try to improve their economic and social situation Valentina Romania in collaboration with existing social and public services developed a program called "One child, One solution".