They do that in kids shows sometimes.
Remember Omi from Xiaolin Showdown? He was a confirmed orphan. And don't even get me started on Disney. Sure they had the infamous Mufasa death from years ago, but they still have it now. In The Princess And The Frog, the main character's dad died of stress, and in Tangled she was freakin' kidnapped as a baby!
All i'm saying is, they REALLY don't need to soften Scootaloo's possible back story that much