Concerns grow over SCC's claims over the death of Jonas Stadden

Below is the Statement issued by Ups and Downs Southwest a charity that supports children and young people with downs syndrome and who had worked supporting Jonas and his family since his birth.

Charities do not issue statements like the one below against County Councils (who usually work in conjunction and support such charities) unless they have serious concerns and quite clearly in this case they do.  Over recent days there has been a lot of statements coming out from SCC officials regarding Jonas Stadden's case and we shall be looking closely at these in the coming days.  For now we provide the Statement placed on Ups and Downs website.  Please read carefully and consider just what is going on at Somerset County Council.

Ups and Downs Southwest

Statement issued in response to the articles in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph on Jan 19^th 2014

Re the death of Jonas Stadden while in care

Ups and Downs Southwest is a charity supporting children and young people with DS and all those involved in their care and education. The organisation was founded on a mother’s desire to provide support and information to other parents from the point of diagnosis onwards. We now support hundreds of parents and families as well as providing information and guidance to professionals across the region.

We have been involved with Jonas and his family since his birth and have done our best to support his parents throughout the emotional turmoil and devastating events they have experienced over the last several months.

We are extremely concerned that the article in the Daily Telegraph refers to a ‘source’ from Somerset County Council saying that “But children with Down Syndrome do die prematurely”. We seek to immediately dispel the implication of this incredibly inappropriate and erroneous remark by setting the record straight for those less informed, and to reassure parents, that children with DS are not vulnerable to ‘dying for no apparent reason’ but like any other child, would only die prematurely if there was a clear medical issue and reason which could be identified. At the time of his death, Clinicians were unaware of any underlying medical issues or problems which would in any way account for his sudden death – and we wish to make that point absolutely clear.

We have been left deeply distressed by the untimely loss of this delightful little boy, and can’t even begin to imagine the pain experienced by his parents who adored him.

Wendy O’Carroll

Founder and CEO

UPS and Downs Southwest