More Than 500 Nepali Children Face an Uncertain Future After Devastating Floods Leave Them 'Orphaned'

Sanju, 10, holds her two-year-old brother at a shelter after their home and parents were washed away in the August 26, 2026, floods that devastated parts of north and central Nepal.

As nine-year-old Ram Thakur walked uphill with his mother and dozens of others fleeing floodwaters on August 26, he looked back and saw brown water surging up. His mother yelled for him to climb faster and not look behind. Thakur climbed higher, but when he finally looked back, his mother was gone.

Nearly four weeks later, Thakur is living in a government primary school turned temporary shelter house in Nuwakot district, Nepal, along with 26 other children. They are among more than 500 children living in temporary shelters across flood-affected districts whose parents are either dead or missing following floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left at least 5,000 others missing.

Under Nepali law, a person must be missing for 12 years to be declared dead unless a judicial declaration is obtained through a district court. Consequently, Thakur and the other children live in legal limbo, not yet officially orphans but practically without parents.

A post-flood assessment by Nepal’s National Child Rights Council and Save the Children revealed that over 1,000 children are living in temporary shelters, including more than 100 unaccompanied by relatives and 439 without parents but with other relatives. Ayush Joshi, programme director for Save the Children in Nepal, noted that over 32,000 children were displaced.

Leon Muwoni, in charge of child protection at UNICEF Nepal, stated that officials and nonprofits are working to reunite families, with 18 children successfully reunited so far.

At a children's shelter in Dhading, four-year-old Shibani Tama has stopped speaking after losing both parents. Caregiver Yamuna Bhattarai noted that Shibani and others are in extreme shock and require urgent psychosocial help. Similarly, 10-year-old Sanju Lama and her two-year-old brother are sheltering in Rasuwa district after their parents went missing.

According to UNICEF, 18 schools have been destroyed and 20 damaged, leaving an estimated 10,000 school-age children facing an uncertain educational future.

While nonprofits have distributed toys, books, and study materials, many children remain withdrawn and overwhelmed. Authorities and organizations are also exercising caution regarding guardianship to prevent risks like child trafficking and labour.