an instant bond. it's all we both wanted. when adi started speaking and calling, "daddy," that's... i mean...for me, it's nothing better. gavin and his wife, jodie, adopted adi when he was eight months old and brought him home to sheffield. he wasjust such an easy, happy baby. it werejust, like, perfect and it were just like all we'd ever waited for and then itjust happened. adi had some minor ailments — a cold, some breathing issues and eczema. then, in november 2022, he died in his sleep. ijust went in like any other morning, and... yeah, just... he werejust laid face down and...| just tried to wake him up. yeah, just... he was just cold. and...that's when... ..gavjust started shouting. sol knew something was wrong, so i rushed out of bed and we phoned an ambulance straight away and then, obviously, just the worst thing that could ever happen, happened. and going to the hospital, and not coming home with your child is just like the worst pain that you could ever feel. it'sjust like i didn't want to... i didn't want to leave him on his own. adi's death is what's called a sudden unexplained death in childhood, or sudc. you've probably never heard of it, but there are about 50 of these deaths a year in the uk. and this isn't young babies, what used to be called cot death. these are older children and doctors have no idea why they die. it's still horrific not knowing what happened to my daughter and i am by no means unusual. there are lots of families out there who, decades later, don't know what happened to their child. it's ten years since nikki speed's two—year—old daughter, rosie, died. another unexplained child death. you were trying to beat theo? no, i was trying to beat willy. 0k. nikki helped set up and now runs a national charity that supports parents and pushes for more research. there are medical reasons for these child deaths. it's one of the most under—recognised medical tragedies of our time, and anybody that knows about sudden unexplained death in childhood, or works in this field, will say that. they will say they are medical tragedies and we need to take steps to understand them and stop them from happening. the key is scientific research. there have been more than 10,000 studies into sudden infant deaths. parents now know how to keep their babies safer and that's led to an 80% reduction in infants dying unexpectedly. but sudc is different. it's children between one and 17 years old and there have been fewer than 100 scientific studies. experts say we know almost nothing about which children are at risk. the only things that we've seen as risk factors, it's a bit more prevalent in males, sudc. it's more common during sleep periods. it's more common if the child is not witnessed during that period of time. and not knowing why a child has died can lead to parents being falsely accused of causing harm. it happened to this couple in 2021. we're protecting their identities because they became suspects when they couldn't explain their son's death. he was a whirlwind from the get—go. he wasjust the life and soul of the party, wasn't he? their son also died without warning during the night. i walked across the floor. i creaked a floorboard in the bedroom. - sobbing. there was no sort of. movement or anything from him, which started l ringing alarm bells for us. all i heard was, "he's gone, he's gone." instead of being treated as a tragedy, the death was treated as a crime. there were just plain—clothed officers everywhere. there was uniformed officers and plain—clothed officers. so at this point, i was bundled in the back of a police car- by the sergeant, and she wasl bundled in the back of a police car by two officers. we were just pretty much told, j "you'll have to find somewhere "to live for the weekend because your house is l because your house is now "classed as a crime scene." their other kids were taken into care by children's services. for months, they could only see their children on supervised visits. they weren't cleared for nearly a year, when the coroner confirmed their son's death was from unidentified natural causes. when is the first time that somebody tells you what's happened? probably the inquest. the inquest. what do you think about that — the way you were treated? i haven't even got words for it. - i felt like a criminal. like, i felt like they knew that i'd done something that i hadn't. and that's the way we were made to feel all the way through. the police have apologised to the family and say they've learned from what happened. the family say they were also let down by the nhs. they didn't receive any support, even though the government says the nhs should provide a key worker when a child dies unexpectedly. still waiting for postmortem to come back. ok, so she's been released, they've had the funeral. yep. the funeral's actually today. this is one of the few nhs teams supporting families, who've suffered the sudden unexpected death of a child. they cover birmingham and solihull. and mum and dad and family...? yeah. mum's been 0k. we've talked about bereavement support and they will both, both mum and dad will need bereavement support, so i'll ring them in the next couple of days. 0k. it's led by one of the uk's experts on sudc. i think it's very important for families to know that absolutely everything has been done to find an answer for why their child died, even if, in the end, we don't find an answer, but they know we've done everything we can. so, five—year—old — - mum described him as well. he'd been kind of satl up, you know, playing with his siblings. so, is there anything parents can do to prevent an sudc death? no, i don't think there's anything. because we don't know what causes it, we don't know any risk factors for it, there's nothing we can do to prevent it at the moment. and when it strikes, sudc can be a lonelyjourney for the family. at christmas, there are no decorations in gavin and jodie's home. do not want to celebrate. last christmas was horrible. this christmas, i've been saying, i do not want to celebrate it without my son. it's not... that is it. well, if there's anything on there that you think, you know, that you could ask questions on. they feel they haven't had enough support, so gavin's father—in—law is helping him prepare for adi's inquest. so, on that one, they've really gone in in—depth on that one, haven't they? they're finding the medical documents hard to understand. i mean, if i were guessing, it looks to me what they're saying is it's some type of medicine. i don't know. gavin wants answers, but he can't find a lawyer to help. right. so this is a solicitor. so i'vejust phoned up. it's on the website and they said they don't deal with it. yeah, that's probably the fourth, maybe fifth solicitor i've tried contacting. because you were told to get legal representation for the inquest, weren't you? which is... which is approaching fast. yeah. and when you ring a solicitor, they're just saying they can't help. yep. every one. it's just near—on impossible. at that inquest, that is it. it's case closed after that. and we've not been able to gather all the questions and get legal representation. questions haven't been answered, so it's... for me, it's ridiculous working like that. just want to scream. just want to... i don't know, get hold of somebody and say, "please help them get some answers." he sighs. it's soul—destroying. i mean, we're never really going to be able to grieve properly till we actually know why adi died. why a two—year—old child, who were full of beans, is here at night and then gone... ..next morning. ken used to look after adi a day a week. he just kept me young. he used to make me wait at pelican crossings while t'green man come on. wouldn't let me cross before green man. he was a smashing lad. he were marvellous. this is a hard christmas forjodie. not great, mentally. i think, with the inquest l coming up and christmas, it'sjust, like, - a very difficult time. it's kind of difficult knowingl that you're going through all this and trying to get answers but, i think, deep down, you know that you're not going to get the answers - that you do actually want, i because nobody does seem to know what happened because nobody knowsl enough about sudc. there are signs of hope — the first clues in the search for answers. those are vessels? yeah. important research into sudden unexplained deaths in childhood is happening here at new york university. the lead investigator found out about sudc in the worst possible way. her 15—month—old daughter died unexpectedly 25 years ago. maria did not wake up from a nap one day and my whole life turned upside down. she's definitely my passion behind this to... ..not let this happen to someone else. on average, there's an sudc death every day in the us. researchers here have had a breakthrough and it comes from families, who have video monitors, nanny cams, watching over their children. the team looked at footage of five children, who died unexpectedly in their sleep. it was extremely challenging to watch and rewatch those videos for the sake of science. you want to jump through the screen and save them. it's a big, big step because again, it's a window into these tragedies — these mysterious deaths — and no—one has ever had evidence directly from the scene. this is katie putting her 17—month—old twin sons to bed in november 2022. it's the last time she said goodnight to one of them, hayden. i love you, hazy. he's in the cot nearest the camera. seven hours later, he would be dead. good night, guys, get some sleep. i i'm grateful that the last - thing that i said to him was, "i love you," because... i shut the door that nightj and i told them both that i loved them. hayden was lively and healthy. he loved to dance. always a smile on his face. yes. any time music would come on, it's like, he's got to get - the wiggle in. look at that! music plays. is this your favourite song in the movie, i hazy? it's fantastic to have these memories, though, isn't it? they�* re just. . . they're just there. it was the best kind i of chaos and i miss it. yeah! applause. baby babbles. yay, hazy! as soon as katie and justin heard about the research, they wanted to share the footage of hayden's death. i want to know. i want to know - what happened to him. but...the bigger part of this i is, you know, what's different? what was different about hayden? - can you identify that in a living child? - you know, you want your- children to grow up and leave their mark on this world, and he can't grow up, . but he can leave a mark. i feel fortunate enough to talk to you about hayden and say his name. and, for anybody that actually watches this, tojust... ..take that information and tell another parent. because the only way that this is going to change, and there's going to be more funding and more research, is for more awareness. i love you. we're not showing hayden's death, but the footage given to the researchers showed he had a seizure. that's a fit that can be brought on by a fever or illness. it was the same for all four of the other children, whose deaths were filmed. it's only a small number, but the researchers say it could be significant. i love you, hazy. i believe it's a major breakthrough. i think we have a huge clue. i think it's possible to start enlarging the circle of children, who are at risk for sudc, and certainly the febrile seizure population would be the prime candidate of children to look at. laughs. lots of children have seizures and most will be fine. the researchers want to work out why a small number of them die. shake a leg. they're now building a world sudc database to look for patterns and for more evidence. i think our next step is to identify how do we identify which children are at higher risk for sudden death? i think for parents right now, it's a conversation to have with their paediatrician. am i doing everything to decrease the risk as much as possible with the information we have right now? back in sheffield, it's an important evening for gavin and jodie. you all right? they're meeting the pathologist, who examined adi after he died. can we say it's really good to meet you? hi. hi, marta. so the reality is that i don't have an answer for you today. he was a beautiful, well looked after child. remember, in the months before he died, adi had a few colds, problems with breathing and some eczema. i is there more tests that can be l done when they're showing signs of any illnesses? yes, he had some cold, ifound some viruses, but that is not the cause of death. next, a fear that's haunted them for more than a year. could they have done anything to save him? you don't think that... ..we could have i missed anything? no. that... and i want you to think that this is not your fault. i want you to think that he didn't suffer. it's nothing you could have done to avoid. thank you. aw, thank you. if you're happy, i can give hug. it's a reassurance that matters to the family. sheffield children's nhs trust was responsible for supporting gavin and jodie. it says it recognises there are areas for improvement in bereavement support and it's undertaken a thorough review to do this. the nhs says it... and that all... ..for families when they've lost a child. it says the... clapping. ha—ha—ha! there you are! 0h...no! you fell over. 00h! laughs. here in worcestershire, there is a trained nurse to help families. we felt like you were our voice. having somebody advocate for you when you're going through something that hard, it's... yeah, it means a lot. because, you know, those, . those early weeks, those early days are just so hard, aren't they? - both: yeah. two—year—old benjamin died in 2022. john and laura have had nurse donna's help from early on. i think parents can feel really lost. i i'm really passionate - about my role and, you know, holding those parents' hands throughout the process. - i always make it clear - to parents, i can't make this better for them, but anything that i can do for that family . to make it easier, i absolutely will. i will you bring my scooter? he was this happy, robust, energetic, lively little boy, whojust, one day, like that, and you just... you need to know that everything is being done that should be being done, to find out. it just. .. yeah, it felt like a bit of a fight to get answers. there's a lot of medical jargon in these reports, but actually, having a paediatrician and donna in the room to talk it through and explain things to us, yeah, it was a massive, massive help. yeah. even though it's a statutory requirement, more than half of nhs areas in england don't have a specialist nurse to visit parents after an unexpected death. bereaved families after the sudden death of a child are the most vulnerable people and if we don't put in early support and help them get... get the support they need, we're setting these parents up for a lifetime of misery. given what you do, how does it make you feel that some areas are just not providing these crucial nurses? it makes me really angry. gavin and jodie are going through it alone. this is the day they've been waiting for but dreading. it's adi's inquest. gavin and jodie will have to ask questions themselves, as they still haven't found a lawyer who can help them. i always feel really anxious before these things. it's going to help towards, you know, hopefully, finding out what's... ..what's happened. i hope it does. so, for an hour and a half, that terrible morning was relived. the coroner looked at the details of adi's life and death before recording her verdict. the inquest was always a big moment for the family because it sort of was, hopefully, the end, but a verdict of natural causes with sudc, it's what the family expected, i think, but it's also what they feared because it isn't a conclusion, it doesn't end. sudc is just an admission that we don't know and that doesn't really help the parents. i'm kind of glad it's out of the way, but we still have a lot of questions. it's not going to bring him back, so... i thought you were both incredibly impressive in there. you did have your voice and that's on the record. that's just... that is a place where... yeah. ..where you're heard. yeah, yeah. about trying to make a difference and raising awareness while we're doing this. if it can help just one more family, then we've kind of set out to do what...we wanted to do. it's a kind of death that most of us have never heard of. but sudc is a parent's nightmare. your child dead and no reason why. unexplained child deaths are the most difficult for families to cope with. there's really nothing we can suggest to parents that will protect their children from it. every time i walk up to hayden's brother's bed now... ..my heart stops. i relive that moment. sudc isjust... ..something that is our burden to carry now. this is a category of death, the sudc. it's not the cause and nobody dies for no reason. something happens to these children that it's happening to, but nobody knows what. these deaths can't yet be predicted or explained. they leave broken families and questions. the search for answers couldn't be more important. live from washington, this is bbc news. animalfeed and rice — gaza residents resort to desperate measures for food as the un warns of a looming famine. a missing six—year—old girl is found dead in a bombed—out car in gaza city, days after her pleas for help drew international attention. and republican rivals for president donald trump and nikki haley hit the campaign trail in south carolina, two weeks out from the state's critical primary. hello, i'm carl nasman. we begin in gaza, where the humanitarian crisis is deepening. residents tell the bbc they are surviving on animal feed and rice as food stocks dwindle. the un says 300,000 people living in the isolated north of gaza are largely cut off from aid. more than half the aid missions to northern gaza were denied access last month. that is according to the un's humanitarian co—ordination agency. mahmoud shalabi from medical aid for palestinians says the situation there is dire. the israeli military says it does not limit humanitarian aid sent to gaza and that there is no starvation there.