Fresh pleas to return home were issued yesterday to Jeffrey and Jennifer Bramley, who disappeared with their foster children, Jade and Hannah Bennett, more than four months ago.
The chief executive of Cambridgeshire County Council, Mr Alan Barnish, appealed to the couple to ensure that steps were taken "in a positive manner" to return home with the children. The needs of the children were uppermost in everyone's mind, he said.
Speaking on BBC News, Mr Barnish denied that the council had performed a U-turn earlier this week by offering to allow the courts to decide the children's future.
That offer was made to the couple in an open letter from Ms Liz Railton, director of Cambridgeshire social services, who said an application to adopt the children would not be blocked and the courts would be invited to consider "all sides of the story". The open letter was a direct response to the Bramleys' own passionate, three-page, handwritten account of their story addressed to selected newspapers and a television station and posted in Nottingham.
Denying that the council's offer undermined the conclusions of social workers that the Bramleys were not suitable candidates for adoption, Mr Barnish said Cambridgeshire social services would present its side of the argument in court very clearly.
He said: "What we have said is that we now need to take a very positive and constructive step, which we think we have taken, and we're very concerned about the welfare of the children. We think the priority, without doubt, is that they should be returned by the Bramleys as quickly as possible, and hopefully today."
He continued: "The opportunity will be there for the court to consider at very short notice the immediate care needs of the two children, and will take account of the needs of the children.
"That will be for the courts to decide in the short term, but it will also be for the court to decide in the long term, because we are also saying that the Bramleys will have the opportunity to make an adoption application and for that to be heard in court, when we will present our side of the argument, and they will have their opportunity to present theirs."
The council made its offer as the Bramleys' relatives renewed their calls this week for the couple to return with the children, and accept the involvement of the courts in determining Jade's and Hannah's future.
The Bramleys have contacted the public relations adviser, Mr Max Clifford, to help sell their story to a national newspaper, it emerged today. The couple have spoken to Mr Clifford over the past two weeks, reports the London Times. They are believed to be on the verge of surrendering to the police and could sell the story of their flight for up to £100,000, according to "insiders".