KATHMANDU: Dawa Magar, who was rescued on Wednesday, eked out a living begging on the streets of Kathmandu. The 10-year-old boy is from Gaighat of Udyapur.

Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala, acting on information provided by the locals, rescued him and handed him over to Children Risk and Coordination Committee.

“The committee is searching for his family. If it fails to find his family, the boy will be sent to Child Protection Centre,” said committee chief Krishna Bahadur Rajbhandari. It is not known how he got separated from his family, but he longs to reunite with his family.

Nine-year-old Sabin Lama and his three-year-old brother Kushal of Dasarabasti, Kanchanpur, were found abandoned near Chhahari Club in Kathmandu on October 2.

Police are trying to discern what really happened. The Lama brothers are presently in Bal Mandir. The children said they wanted to reunite with their family.

The Central Child Welfare Board yesterday handed over a girl who was rescued from the street to her family. CCWB coordinator Chitra Poudel said the girl was handed over on the condition that she would be well looked after by her family.

These are only some representative cases of street children who have been rescued. Many children who abandon their homes or go missing are not reported to police. The number of children who go missing far outnumber those found.

Most children leave their homes due to poor economic condition of the family, domestic dispute, domestic violence, lack of family love and care, and separation of parents, among others.

According to the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Centre Krishna Bahadur Rajbhandari, most children left their families due to poor financial condition.

Of the 511 children who went missing between mid-July and mid-September, 390 were girls. It was also informed that 208 among those missing were found. In the fiscal 2017-18, 2,230 children had gone missing. Of them, 1,407 were girls.