Globally, 1st June is international children’s day, but slowly the day is losing its meaning since children’s rights have been violated, especially those living in orphanages. Children empowerment should be a priority, so listening to their voices and opinions should be a priority. Most children living in institutions have lost their sense of identity; rarely do they celebrate their birthdays because most of them don’t know when they were born. They wear identical clothes and shave in the same way. What makes an individual unique and special is already missing from them. In 2000, Georgette Mulheir, in conjunction with UNICEF, was researching the deinstitutionalization process in Romania. They found that some counties had closed their institutions, and the government was developing a national strategy. Georgette went around the country, observing the change process, and point out what worked and what failed to work. After undertaking the task, she found that deinstitutionalization was successful and worked for all involved children. Georgette Mulheir found that the Romanian institutionalization system was arbitrarily separating siblings.
The grouping was according to their age, disability, and age. She came across four siblings living in four separate institutions. Separating siblings is harmful, and it negatively impacts a child’s development; thus, they decided to establish an institution that brought together all groups of siblings. Georgette wanted to dig deep into what exactly happens when siblings are far apart. She met a group of boys who narrated to her what happened to them. They only got a promise of being taken out for a trip to celebrate children’s day. They found themselves in two buses, one for boys and the other one for girls. They were not aware they were heading into another institution. What hurts the most is that they were not allowed to say goodbye to their siblings. The separation of siblings moved Georgette, and as a result, she spoke to the State Social Service, recommending the organization of regular visits between the siblings. From that day, Georgette Mulheir is in the front line fighting over the inclusion of children’s voices, wishes, opinions, and inspirations in decision making.
