Contacts for each Social Services
Area
We are establishing a list of contacts for each
social services area so that advice literature can be provided for families
needing advice. If you are willing to volunteer for your area please email
Tom Paul on paultj@parliament.uk
We also need regional contacts to coordinate each region. Don't worry if
you don't know what region you live in, but if you are willing to help in a
region please email Tom.
Literature
Any suggestions for what needs to be in literature
needs to be emailed to Tom Paul so he can pass it to the people doing the
drafting work.
Shaken Baby Syndrome
I have identified two cases recently (one in London
one in Wales) where the system is trying to remove a child because a sibling of
the child was diagnosed as being shaken. In both cases it appears that a
metabolic disease such as glutaric aciduria is the probable cause of the
subdural haematomata and retinal haemorrhages. There is a strong
argument requiring three symptoms including some damage to the head before
concluding on the probable cause. I have written to the RCPCH about this
with a view to seeing if they have formalised advice on this.
One of the cases has
started the process of judicial review.
A biomechanical study of
SBS
Is a report which indicates that for a baby's brain
to be sufficiently damaged by shaking damage to the spine would
happen and without the signs of damage to the spine (or bruising to the
head) a proper diagnosis should be that SBS does not apply. This is
an extension of the above point really.
Wikipedia is also helpful on this giving reference
to a hearing in the USA about the admissibility of claims of SBS without other
damage
Clearly this is not a binding precedent on the UK,
but it is an important point.
Secrecy
I have looked further at the Mumby judgement and
analysed what I think it means at.
This is important as it means that people can talk
publicly about the cases they were involved in - when it has finished
- as long as they don't use any of the court documents or discuss
what actually happened in court. That is without applying for
permission.
The amended information rules from
2005
mean that you can send a copy of the judgment to
any elected representative or Peer. Elected representative means an MP, AM
or MEP. That does not have to be your own elected representative.
Anyone with concerns about a judgment can send details to me with a copy of
the judgment. Remember, however, that I cannot deal with any substantial
load of casework and, therefore, are working in conjunction with affiliated
campaigns on casework. It does allow some central recordkeeping as to the
nature of problems, however.
Southall
Lawrence Alexander has collated much of the press
information about Southall here.
For those that have followed the different
justifications Southall has given for holding the secret files here is one
of the stories
There are about 4,499 special case files according
to Southall. The hospital continues to fail to answer the question as to
whether or not they will tell people what is in their special case files.
I am working to get an electronic transcript of the hearing. We have paper
copies.
SIDS research
Reports how it is the failure of a brain system
that reponds to hypoxia (low oxygen) or hypercarbia (high levels of CO2) that
causes SIDS. There is chinese research that demonstrates that primates can
develop tolerance to hypoxia as a result of exposure to hypoxic
environments. In other words when they are exposed to low oxygen levels it
damages the response system so that they are more likely to fail to respond to
low oxygen.
The original paper is here
Opposite view
In the above article Jonathan Gornall arguing a
contrary view. He argues that a paper relating to sudden infant deaths occurring within a family is flawed.
The argument for the validity of "Meadow's law" is that SIDS has no genetic element (which would conflict from the
argument about the seratonin system above). In essence he is arguing that Meadow's
law was not the load of rubbish that almost everyone else knows it
was.
St Neot's sign up
The main list of affiliated campaigns is
here
A mother's story on
YouTube
I haven't been able to watch this 6 minute video,
but it is about forced adoptions.