More than one-third of the children who were rescued from the streets of Kathmandu Valley have been reunited with their families almost a year after a rehabilitation campaign was initiated by the Central Child Welfare Board in May 2016. 

A total of 568 children were rescued from the Valley streets and 200 of them have been returned to their families. The remaining children are living in rehabilitation centres.

According to CCWB workers, some children living in rehabilitation centres have no idea who their parents are those with delinquent behaviours and those who have picked up habits of smoking cigarettes and abusing substances.  

“We have around 35 rescued children with us suffering from substance addiction including pharmaceutical products, illicit products and alcohol, depression or some psychological disorder,” said Tshering Wangdu, director of Sober Recovery Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre, one of the organisations working with the CCWB.

“We provide them essential diets and initial exercises to bring them back into normal condition.” 

As part of the campaign, the rescued street children are offered counselling, medical exams and courses to engage them in social activities before they are transferred to facilities, known as socialisation centres,where they are offered vocational trainings, taught income-generating skills. 

But everything does not go as plan when dealing with children who have lived without parental or adult guidance. Besides unruly and disruptive behaviours, CCWB Executive Director Tarak Dhital said, sometimes they face runaway cases. 

“We have to rescue the runaway children again. We contact their parents and if unavailable, we offer them a special protection and counselling,” said Dhital.