I believe the Merlin's excuse for that not being done to Harry back in Proven Guilty after the Korean Kid got the chop was 1] there wasn't enough qualified wizards to take on apprentices, 2] that there were even fewer willing to take the risk of taking on a perhaps redeemable kid only to fail and die with him/her under the edit of the Doom. So he and the Council felt that a zero tolerance policy was safest for all.
To be very blunt -- the Merlin is being startlingly
stupid, here.
The WC's official position is, they don't seek out young proto-Talents before they get into trouble... Let's look at the downstream consequences, hmm? What's the throughline, here?
With the impulses of young hormones, with the impulse-control of youth, with the judgment of youth, with the maturity of youth how many of these burgeoning talents --
really --
aren't going to "get into trouble?"
Particularly in the "developed" countries, where most people will deny the magic, and generally assign "crazy" and similar labels.
So then the newly-emerged talents go Warlock.
And get killed.
I mean ... just look at Molly.
She had a wonderful, loving family-upbringing.
She had about the best moral guidance that mortal parents can provide.
And, she went Warlock.
If a kid like Molly (of all people!) can't avoid it... who's likely to?
Anyone? Calling it like I see it here, and it looks to me like a big
NOPE. (Or rather: only with a huge,
HUGE dose of dumb luck!)
===
The net result therefore looks an
awful lot like the Whamp plot to "cull" Talent out of humanity. The Merlin/WC plan is actually better than the Whamp plan: the wizards are filtering for the strongest, most effective talents! (weak/ineffectual magic being unlikely to rise to the level of Warden action)