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Absconding and Behaviour Support
Absconding is when a person leaves or runs away from an environment that is a safe place without their carer knowing, which can put them at risk. This behaviour is a response with a function: escape from overwhelm, reaching a preferred place, sensory seeking, or a change in routine. Behaviour Support Practitioners implement safety plans for the behaviour of concern.
For example, a child who continuely bolts from a classroom, or an adult who has left supported accommodation without warning. When someone you care for leaves a safe place without warning, the fear of repeat behaviour is real.
The instinct is to lock everything but this limits the person’s freedom, and counts as environmental restraint in the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Behaviour Support first addresses why the behaviour occurs and puts safety plans in place.
Parents, carers, and support workers
For support coordinators and plan managers
Funding your behaviour support
Behaviour Support at Optimum Health Solutions is usually funded through the NDIS.
NDIS participants fund it from Capacity Building. Newer PACE plans list it as Behaviour Support, and older plans list it as Improved Relationships.
Private sessions are available too, with no referral needed, and you will get a clear picture of the costs before you book.
If it is not in your plan yet, your support coordinator can ask for it at the next plan review.
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Why absconding happens
01
Escape from an overwhelming environment
Noise, crowding, demands, conflict, sensory overload. When a place becomes too much, leaving is a logical response. The person is removing themselves from something their nervous system can’t handle right then.
02
Reaching a preferred place or activity
It might be a child who loves the park, a teenager drawn to a particular shop, or an adult who wants to visit a family member. Sometimes the person knows exactly where they’re heading. The pull is towards something, not away.
03
Sensory seeking
For some people, the movement itself is what they’re after. Running, the feel of wind, the openness of space. Leaving gives the body input that feels good or settling.
04
A change in routine
When predictability breaks down, through a different schedule, an unfamiliar carer, or a cancelled activity, some people head back to what they know, even if that means walking home from school or leaving a group home to find a familiar place.
Safety and freedom together.
Absconding carries real safety risks and the need to act quickly is genuine. Safety responses sit on a spectrum, from physical containment or constant one-to-one supervision at one end, to a person who no longer feels the need to leave.
Positive Behaviour Support works to move along that spectrum towards understanding and prevention, while keeping the person safe along the way. Our practitioners build plans that hold immediate safety and long-term freedom together, not one at the cost of the other.
How Positive Behaviour Support helps
01
The same approach across settings
School, home, respite, and community outings all need to pull in the same direction. We support teachers, carers, support workers, and family to use the same prevention strategies and the same response.
When different people do different things, the pattern tends to hold on.
02
Functional behaviour assessments
We observe and investigate. When does the person leave? Where do they go? What happened just before? What happens when they’re found?
We look at the pattern across a few incidents. That shows us whether the person is escaping, reaching for something, seeking movement, or reacting to a change. It tells us what to do next.
03
Changing the environment early.
If the person is leaving because a place overwhelms them, we plan to adjust the environment so it feels safer or meets the sensory or routine needs of the participant.
This could be by easing noise, creating calm sensory spaces, building transition warnings into the routine, and offering a transitional choices before the person feels they have to make one themselves.
04
Predictability through visual supports
If a change in routine sets off absconding, visual schedules, social stories, and advance warning of changes can give the person the predictability they need.
This is because when someone knows exactly what’s coming next, the urge to head off for something familiar eases.
04
Safe ways to move and explore
If the person needs movement or outdoor time, we build it into the day: scheduled walks, movement breaks, and time in a preferred outdoor space at set times.
When the body gets the movement it’s seeking, the need to find it by leaving eases.
04
Community safety skills
Where it fits, we work on road safety, recognising safe people to approach, using a phone or device to reach a carer, and learning familiar routes. These skills build a safety net for the times absconding may still happen while the plan is taking effect.
One team,
many possible causes
If the pull is sensory, an Occupational Therapist can assess what the body is seeking. A Speech Pathologist can build communication supports for a person who leaves because they can’t get a need across. And where pain is part of it, a Physiotherapist can look into that. At Optimum Health Solutions, our Positive Behaviour Support practitioners work alongside Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Physiotherapists, Exercise Physiologists, Podiatrists, and Dietitians. When absconding has more than one driver, our clinicians coordinate so the plan covers all of them. One team, one plan.
Who We Support
We work with people of all ages:
- children who bolt from classrooms, playgrounds, or home
- teenagers who leave school grounds or walk out of the house without notice
- adults in supported accommodation, day programs, or community settings where absconding raises safety concerns.
We also support the people around the person: parents who can’t sleep, teachers minding one child closely, and support workers carrying the daily tension of keeping someone safe without taking away their freedom.
Behaviour support through the NDIS
NDIS. Positive Behaviour Support is funded under Capacity Building. In newer NDIS (PACE) plans it sits in a dedicated Behaviour Support budget; older plans fund it under Improved Relationships or Improved Daily Living. If your plan doesn’t include it yet, your support coordinator can request it at your next plan review. We work with plan-managed, agency-managed, and self-managed participants.
NDIS
Referrals
14 clinics across NSW & Tasmania
Email us
hello@opt.net.au
Speak to us
1800 678 647
Get in Touch.
Where we offer Behaviour Support
Common questions about absconding
What is absconding in behaviour support?
Why does my child leave without warning?
Is locking doors a restrictive practice?
How can I keep my child safe while we work on absconding?
Is absconding common in autism?
How does Positive Behaviour Support help with absconding?
Does NDIS fund behaviour support for absconding?
Rachel Hardcastle
OPTIMUM HEALTH SOLUTIONS
Rachel has worked in Behaviour Support for over 16 years, where her experience has included complex and forensic work. Rachel’s approach is entirely person-centred, meaning her practice starts and ends with the person, building support around them. Rachel works clinically and leads the development of the Behaviour Support team at Optimum Health Solutions, supporting practitioners to grow and do their best work with the people they see.
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