There are a number of things that contribute to people abandoning claims. We quite often hear from refugee lawyers in Canada that claims are sometimes abandoned because people receive very poor advice from unscrupulous community members or consultants. There are conditions under which people who genuinely fear persecution will return to their home country. Sometimes there's a threat to children, but those are rare cases. Often people whose children or families are threatened will make difficult decisions to return while waiting out a process that at present simply takes too long.
On May 7th, 2012. See this statement in context.