Family issues, stress account for nearly one-third of child missing cases in first five months of this year in Keralam
932 children were reported missing between January and May 2026 in Keralam, according to the Women and Child Development department
Between January and May 2026, 932 children were reported missing in Keralam, according to the State's Women and Child Development department (WCD). Family issues and stress accounted for 343 of these cases, a submission made to a zonal consultation for southern States convened by a Supreme Court committee. Elopement with romantic partners or friends was the cause in 161 cases, while only nine were kidnapping.
Most of these missing children were traced within a week, officials said. In 2023, 2,401 children went missing, of which 2,397 were traced. In 2024, 2,665 of the 2,681 reported missing were traced, and in 2025, all but 26 of the 2,600 were traced. The WCD noted that fertility had fallen below replacement level in Kerala, and without systems in place, human trafficking markets could expand.
The department conducted 716 drives during 2025-26 for trafficking and labour prevention, with 168 conducted jointly with the police. A total of 44 meetings of task forces for missing children had been held, identifying 150 hotspots. Notably, 61% of the missing children in the first five months of 2026 were from above-the-poverty-line households.
The WCD believes that emotional, social, and economic vacuums, rather than strangers, drive most disappearances. The State plans to implement various measures to address these issues, including ward-wise vulnerability mapping, support committees, training for social-work students, and continued interventions in hotspots.
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