function matcher (params, data) {
      // Always return the object if there is nothing to compare
      if ($.trim(params.term) === '') {
        return data;
      }

      // Do a recursive check for options with children
      if (data.children && data.children.length > 0) {
        // Clone the data object if there are children
        // This is required as we modify the object to remove any non-matches
        var match = $.extend(true, {}, data);

        // Check each child of the option
        for (var c = data.children.length - 1; c >= 0; c--) {
          var child = data.children[c];

          var matches = matcher(params, child);

          // If there wasn't a match, remove the object in the array
          if (matches == null) {
            match.children.splice(c, 1);
          }
        }

        // If any children matched, return the new object
        if (match.children.length > 0) {
          return match;
        }

        // If there were no matching children, check just the plain object
        return matcher(params, match);
      }

      var original = stripDiacritics(data.text).toUpperCase();
      var term = stripDiacritics(params.term).toUpperCase();

      // Check if the text contains the term
      if (original.indexOf(term) > -1) {
        return data;
      }

      // If it doesn't contain the term, don't return anything
      return null;
    }