After working for many years as a human life advocate, dedicating her life to the fight against gender inequality and sustainable living standards for all, Georgette Mulheir finally speaks on what she thinks is the source of the problem facing many orphanages. Speaking recently after a powerful world meeting, Georgette Mulheir said that there is more to the problem than what leaders see. According to her, the main challenge facing many orphanages is the lack of up-to-date data, showing the number of orphanages and their inhabitants in a country or region. Georgette Mulheir observes that in Europe and parts of Asia especially Central Asia, there could be over a million children living in big residential homes that have been set up either by respective governments or individual entrepreneurs. She argues that although some governments are trying to lay down procedures that will finally help these children, most take years even forever to actualize their dreams.

Georgette Mulheir also feels that policymakers do not have the requisite information regarding the number and the state of hundreds of orphanages and those who live in those buildings. “Lack of proper records showing who lives in what residential building hampers many things. Governments deal with approved numbers from the data collected during the national population census, usually done after 10 or so years. If these children are not counted, it makes it hard for them to receive their fair allocation from the government,” Georgette Mulher says. The other challenge is that once governments have put up these buildings and fill them with children, they usually forget that they have done their part. As such, children living in orphanages are left to struggle for their own. Some of them even grow up to marry others getting married and raising children inside orphanages. Perhaps to show how tragic the situation has been in recent years, Georgette Mulheir reminds world leaders of the horrific accident that took place in a Guatemala orphanage that saw fire engulf, 40 girls. She also points to the pictures that went viral of children starving to near death in one of the largest orphanages in Belarus.