Parents Fear for Vanished Son : Disappearance: They are worried that the 14-year-old may have tried to return to Mexico on a bicycle with $50.

ANAHEIM — A 14-year-old boy who disappeared two weeks ago was upset that his family couldn’t find a plastic surgeon to treat his burn scars, and they fear he tried to return to Mexico on a bicycle with $50.

Francisco Vargas Jr. was last seen by his mother on the afternoon of April 28. She said he was depressed about schoolwork and his parents’ inability to find a doctor who could help remove long, facial scars covering a cheek.

Francisco had suffered the burns in a fire a year ago, when the family lived in Mexico City, which was started by neighborhood children playing with matches, the boy’s mother said.

Because of his disfigurement, the boy had few friends at school and was a quiet student, who socialized more with his brothers and sisters than with other students, teachers and parents said. Francisco’s scars begin on one cheek and run directly under his chin.

“He was having trouble dealing with his facial scars and he was unhappy with schoolwork because he wasn’t learning English as fast as he wanted,” his mother, Felipa Pineda Vargas, said.

The family immigrated to California a year ago primarily to allow their children to attend schools here but also to find treatment for Francisco’s scarred face, his mother said.

The parents talked to people at several hospitals, but because Francisco’s father is unemployed, “we have little money and no health insurance to pay for an operation. It’s been difficult for us,” the boy’s mother said.

“We talked to many doctors but it was going to cost too much money,” she said.

The mother said she learned of Francisco’s plans to return to Mexico from one of his classmates. The $50, she said, he apparently got from her purse.

The family has filed a missing children’s report with Anaheim police and have combed their neighborhood.

One of the boy’s teachers, Linda Aguirre, an English teacher at South Junior High School where Francisco is an eighth-grader, said the disappearance was uncharacteristic of the boy’s personality. Aguirre said he was respectful and was “a helper.”

“My problem is that he may be out there all by himself. I’m worried,” Aguirre said.

She became concerned about him after he missed several days of school.

“I asked several of his classmates what had happened and they told me that Francisco went back to Mexico,” Aguirre said.

“I didn’t think twice about it,” Aguirre said. “Sometimes many Mexican families pull their children out of school and go back to Mexico and I thought that this had happened.”

But after the mother went to the school seeking help, Aguirre and school officials began to worry about the boy’s safety.

“We are concerned because this is a sad situation,” said Lynn V. West, an assistant principal at the junior high school.

Aguirre described Francisco as a “sweet boy,” who was always “very quiet, yet very nice.” But lately, apparently after his parents told him that they could not afford plastic surgery, his academic performance had fallen off.

According to the boy’s mother, he had become frustrated with the prospect of being scarred for the rest of his life and didn’t see a need to continue with school.

“He told me he wanted to drop out of school. I told him that if he wanted to get a good job he would have to stay in school,” his mother said.

“I have five children and I wanted them all to learn English and to get a better life. That’s why we came to California. But the things here are just too expensive. Everything is very expensive, and it’s become impossible for us to afford everything and try and find help for Francisco,” she said.