Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care

[John81]

Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care


CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.
The Plain Dealer reports (http://bit.ly/t68M7D ) that the Cleveland 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension.
The case is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care strictly for a weight-related issue.
Lawyers for the mother say the county overreached when authorities took the boy last week. They say the medical problems he is at risk for do not yet pose an imminent danger.
A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother's inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect.

http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-foster-care-191032515.html

[JerryNumbers]

That's surely a heavy 8 year old 3rd grader.

[Anon]

The government has no right to take a child like that. Who's to say the foster family is going to be able to make the child lose weight?

[John81]

Their arguments that being this obese means the child could face health risks later in life is absurd. What about children that might not be obese but eat mostly junk food? They are at potential future health risk too. What about those who drink soda all day every day? What about children who refuse to eat their vegetables? Will they eventually demand that parents fully comply with the federal dietary guidelines or have their children taken away?

This is all about control and the liberal-socialist idea that man can make a perfect world on his own.

[JerryNumbers]

I ate much junk food when I was young, my eating habits were terrible, but I did not set in front of a TV all day long never doing nothing physical.

I did not want to set in front of the TV, there were to many things to be done outside, of course there was no A/C, cartoon shows, & other junk to watch on TV.

[John81]

I ate much junk food when I was young, my eating habits were terrible, but I did not set in front of a TV all day long never doing nothing physical.

I did not want to set in front of the TV, there were to many things to be done outside, of course there was no A/C, cartoon shows, & other junk to watch on TV.

Me too. I drank way too much soda too, but I was active. Today it's common for children to sit around watching TV or playing video games all year long while drinking soda and snacking on junk food the whole day.

Even so, there are some kids who are fat when they are younger but then grow out of it once they get older. I've known of several who were obese when they were younger but once they got about high school age their bodies changed and they were no longer obese.

All these people wanting to create a perfect world without Christ are in way over their heads and it's a shame so many have to suffer because of them.

[Seth Doty]

Generally speaking I dislike the idea of the government taking kids from parents in all but the most extreme situations. I don't know if this would really qualify or not but I do know there is no way a third grader is going to be that fat even with zero exercise unless his parents/parent are WAY overfeeding him. That heavy at that age is pretty extreme and is borderline abuse in my opinion. The article also says the government worked with the mother for a year before going to the extreme of taking him away. That third grader already has 50 lbs on me and I am 25 and 6ft tall. That poor third grader is probably wider than he is tall...

Edited November 29, 2011 by Seth-Doty

[Anon]

I have two super skinny kids and two husky kids. All of them basically eat the same food. I give very few snacks and never a bedtime snack. The oldest, one of the "bigger" boys even plays sports. They are just large. Now, they are not obese, but they are probably slightly overweight, but its because of their genetic body build and metabolism. At the same time, my skinny ones could sit around all day and do nothing but eat fries (they don't do that haha) and not gain weight. I've tried to cut back my "bigger" boys a little in the food and I never really see a change...my big boys are still big and my skinny boys are still skinny!

[Seth Doty]

I have two super skinny kids and two husky kids. All of them basically eat the same food. I give very few snacks and never a bedtime snack. The oldest, one of the "bigger" boys even plays sports. They are just large. Now, they are not obese, but they are probably slightly overweight, but its because of their genetic body build and metabolism. At the same time, my skinny ones could sit around all day and do nothing but eat fries (they don't do that haha) and not gain weight. I've tried to cut back my "bigger" boys a little in the food and I never really see a change...my big boys are still big and my skinny boys are still skinny!

Not saying there can't be some difference in body type and therefore weight, but I think it is safe to say there is no body type where a third grader should be anywhere near 200lbs. Nor is there any third grader that will be that fat regardless of metabolism or exercise unless they are being grossly overfed.

[JerryNumbers]

Generally speaking I dislike the idea of the government taking kids from parents in all but the most extreme situations. I don't know if this would really qualify or not but I do know there is no way a third grader is going to be that fat even with zero exercise unless his parents/parent are WAY overfeeding him. That heavy at that age is pretty extreme and is borderline abuse in my opinion. The article also says the government worked with the mother for a year before going to the extreme of taking him away. That third grader already has 50 lbs on me and I am 25 and 6ft tall. That poor third grader is probably wider than he is tall...

Some parents just don't get it.

Years ago a young man was way over weight, he was a truck driver, he owned his own truck. He had to take the bottom of his seat out to be able to set under the steering wheel. He set on the seat frame with a piece of plywood setting on it, no cushion, & was barely able to do that.

Once he was in the hospital, nearly dead, it was heart trouble, he was about 5' 9', weighted 300 plus pounds. His doctor told him, if you don't lose weight you will die a young man.

The week after he once got out of the hospital he was attending a basketball game his boy was playing in. He set below his mother & to the side, leaning back on the bleacher behind him will his arms stretched out. Throughout the game his mother unwrapped candy from a bag, each time he got through chewing up the previous piece of candy, she would stuff another piece of candy in his mouth. This went on steady throughout the game. When they left the game there was still candy in the bag, & he continued to eat candy until they got in their car. Perhaps all the way home.

Yes, he died a young man, he had no support whatsoever to help him lose weight..

And I know of another mother that did her son the same way, before he reached junior high he weighed 300 plus pounds, & was over weight all his life. Every evening when his mother came home from work she would bring him a big bag of junk food, candy, donuts, sweet cakes, ect. He too died a very young man.

[Wilchbla]

Apparently mommy could never say "no" to the little darling.

[John81]

I have two super skinny kids and two husky kids. All of them basically eat the same food. I give very few snacks and never a bedtime snack. The oldest, one of the "bigger" boys even plays sports. They are just large. Now, they are not obese, but they are probably slightly overweight, but its because of their genetic body build and metabolism. At the same time, my skinny ones could sit around all day and do nothing but eat fries (they don't do that haha) and not gain weight. I've tried to cut back my "bigger" boys a little in the food and I never really see a change...my big boys are still big and my skinny boys are still skinny!

Our daughter became a little overweight as a young child but about the time she became a teen her body went through changes and se actually became skinny. Our middle child has always looked skinny even though he has always ate more than the others. Our youngest son was very husky yet shortly before he turned 13 he began growing taller and is now just a little overweight.

When I was a child and teen I ate a lot of food and never gained weight. Now I think about food and put on weight! Meanwhile, a person I went to school with who was very fat all through school is now, and has been, in good shape for many years now.

One report I read said the mom had made changes in the child's diet and the child lost some weight but the child wouldn't stick to the diet and started putting the weight back on.

Scripture doesn't promise that anyone will live a certain amount of time if they weight a certain amount or that certain diseases won't afflict them if they are not overweight as a child. One thing Scripture does say is that children are the responsibility of parents, and it doesn't say only of good parents.

The government isn't a better parent, foster care systems are riddled with problems, youth homes have their problems, etc. Removing the child because the child is fat may be a way to bring the child's weight down, but what about the other problems that will come about because of this drastic action? Who is to say they may not be much worse than anything being overweight would have brought on.

Government usurpation of parental authority is a terrible problem and is something we see every tyranical regime use to their advantage, whether it be the Nazis, communists or others.