As a coordinator of End Child Detention Now – no paid staff and no interest in infiltrating anyone's wallets – might I respond to her charges?

Opponents of child detention urge the Government to look seriously at community-based alternatives. Countries such as Sweden and Canada do not have an "open borders" policy, but they manage to keep children and their parents out of high-security detention facilities.

Keeping a family of four in Yarl's Wood costs £3,640 a week. If that money was used to prepare families for their eventual return in supported community accommodation (such as the current Glasgow pilot) and to provide support and monitoring post-removal, a higher rate of voluntary returns might result—as it does in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Even the UK Border Agency admits that detention serves primarily as a deterrent to would be asylum-seekers, and that families are unlikely to abscond.

Ms Dejevsky says that some individuals who present as minors turn out not to be. It is also the case that some detained as adults turn out to be minors. Notwithstanding that, UKBA is for no good reason detaining large numbers of children and babies, causing them significant harm.

We focus on children because they are the most vulnerable. We have seen at first hand the traumatic impact of detention on parents and children alike. Had Mary Dejevsky spoken to such a family she might not be so quick to condemn those who raise their voices in protest."

Simon Parker
End Child Detention Now, York

Letter on the Independent's website