While some might describe what we do as searching for and working with lost children, we look at it differently. For us, our work each day is not about a lost child as much as it is about a child found. A child found, even in a mess, is a child found.

The children we find are, in some ways, similar. While they have had varied appalling experiences being out on their own, they each come from the same place – home. When we find them, they are usually dirty, exhausted and most definitely hungry. Out on the streets, these children have gotten pulled into performing extremely hard labour for a pittance. At a time when their growing bodies need all the nourishment they can get, they barely manage to scrape together one meal a day.

Along with hunger though, come other, more deplorable challenges. It is a known fact that children out on our streets abuse substances such as whitener, shoe polish and tobacco. What is lesser known is that one of the main reasons they get into drugs in the first place is to suppress their hunger. The drugs they consume end up not only ruining their bodies but also leave long-term scars on their psyches. It takes months and sometimes years to help rebuild their confidence in themselves. What they need in addition is extensive care and guidance coupled with a formal education and access to vocational training.

According to the Missing Bureau Crime Report, 1 child is registered as missing every 8 minutes and 200 children arrive at Mumbai’s stations alone each day. There are a number of known reasons why children typically flee their homes including

• Problems at home – such as mistreatment by a single or step-parent, poverty, external pressures from school or peers, neglect and poor family communication
• Becoming victims of trafficking – both organ and sex trafficking
• In search of work – having watched the media portray big cities as ideal places to earn a living, children may decide to follow suit
• City attractions – children sometimes head to a big city to visit attractions like malls, restaurants, gaming zones etc.
• Miscellaneous – sometimes children are either unaware or unable to describe their reasons for running away

At Children Reunited, our aim is to reunite each child we find with his family. Regardless of the potential for a reunion with family, we work towards reuniting the child with his own best self. We equip him with the skills he needs to be self-sufficient as he turns into an adult. While the process appears straightforward, it is fraught with challenges at every step. Our volunteers, often unpaid, work tirelessly towards this cause. It is the sheer joy they experience on reuniting even one child that makes it worth their while.

We reunite the children we find through the following inter-dependent three-step approach:

We welcome the children into our shelter with open arms and offer them a space where play, friendships and of course, wholesome food await them. Such an environment is essential to help soothe them and get them to start to feel like themselves again. At our shelter, we observe the children closely and talk to them often in an attempt to learn more about them. The children typically lie at first given their fear of either being reported or sent back home. Their experiences on the street too may have left them jarred making it harder for them to trust us. On our part hence, both direct and indirect questioning and discovery continues throughout their stay with us.

While some children get rehabilitated during this time period itself, some others may need extra care. Our Manparivartan Shibir (camp) is for children who have run away from home more than once, have been living on the station for more than 2-3 months or those with a moderate addiction. After obtaining complete custody of these children, we bring them to our camp site in Mamnoli, Kalyan. We conduct a residential camp spread over 45 days with a total of 4 such camps conducted annually. Our camps are designed to prepare the children to reunite with their families as well as help them become better citizens in the long run. We counsel the children and help them work through their challenges. We endeavour to instill good values in them and promote feelings of love towards their families. We give the children non-formal education as well to help them understand the importance of education for their future. Our camp offers them a safe and supported environment within which they are free to learn more about themselves and reflect on how they wish to live their lives.

As part of the camp, we also conduct extensive counselling for the children via professionally trained and qualified counsellors. It is to be expected that children who ran away from home are likely to resist going back. We therefore spend considerable time and exercise care to make them feel comfortable.