He said: "Clearly any absconsion is a matter of concern, that is why we leave it to our police service to get on with the job.

Neither category of child received a service that could be described as remedial or therapeutic and some regimes encouraged absconsion and increased offending.

Isolated expressions of clearcut illness behaviour are noted, but these and two incidents of violent expression do not bring a resumption of medication until after two periods of absconsion.

Grahl-Madsen states that fears of absconsion in a particular case may make detention necessary.84 However, it should be remembered that he was of the opinion that the restrictive criteria in Article 31(1) did not apply in the detention context.

(17) It should be a rule of practice that any absconsion should be reported as soon as possible to the absconder's field social worker and that the absconder should be seen on his return by that social worker or by another appropriate person who is independent of the home.