It is almost a fortnight since 12 asylum seekers disappeared from community detention in Adelaide and police and immigration officials seem no closer to finding them.
Refugee advocates say the group fled in fear after two of their friends had their residency permission revoked and were taken back into detention.
Refugee support groups also are accusing authorities for giving out little information about the case.
A child-psychologist from Adelaide University Jon Jureidini is a critic of how asylum seekers are being dealt with.
"The message is very clear, if there's an opportunity to treat children cruelly this administration will do that because they believe deterrence trumps children's welfare," he said.
The Federal Government has confirmed the group includes five teenagers between 14 and 18.
They had been living in community detention but left after two other teenage Vietnamese asylum seekers were taken by immigration officials 11 days ago and sent to detention interstate.
Professor Jureidini says it is hardly surprising the group fled.
"This is another attack on children's autonomy really, you put them in the community but you scare them into the fact that if they put a foot wrong or do something that's not according to instructions they'll be locked up again," he said.
Detention 'something to be afraid of'
Hamid, not his real name, recoils at the thought of facing any return to detention.
Now 17, he is on a bridging visa and spent time at Christmas Island after leaving Pakistan in search of a safer life.
"[It is] something to be afraid of. Detention is not a place for human beings, not a place for animals," he said.
"Of course I would be terrified, it's a horrible thing to be in detention."
David Winderlich of the welfare agency Uniting Communities, says it is time the South Australian Government stepped in to help deal with the issue.
"The legal situation is complicated, at one level it's a migration issue so a Federal Government issue, but at another level it's a child protection issue and therefore a state one," he said.
"For the average South Australian in the street the moral position is crystal clear, there are children in need of protection, it's our responsibility to do this.
"The Commonwealth system is failing to do that and the State Government should offer its assistance."
Psychologist says children's lives 'destroyed'
An inquiry continues into children in immigration detention and Professor Jureidini has been among those to give evidence.
He says it is a decade since the Human Rights Commission last explored the issue but detention is still destroying children's lives.
"Trust is so important for children, to live in an environment where they can at least trust some adults in their world," he said.
"If you don't have that your chances of developing in a healthy way are compromised."
Neither SA police nor Immigration Minister Scott Morrison have been available for an interview on the case of the missing group.
In a statement, police say they have filed missing persons reports but the issue remains an Immigration Department responsibility.
The Immigration Minister has discretion to return community detainees to a detention facility for a range of reasons.abc.net.au
