Taking away obese kids

[Anon]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404741,00.html

Now, this is going too far.

I know none of my kids is "obese" but I did take my oldest two to the ped today, and while one is nearly underweight, the other is overweight. He will be getting a blood panel done to rule out any metabolic diseases. He does not snack, we cook fairly healthy food...he just likes to eat, even though I do limit his food intake, we will be cutting back even farther now. Its just that everything he eats turns to fat I guess. He's not huge, but he is overweight. He has eaten alot and been pudgy ever since he was born.

Now we are doing everything we can for him, and the rest of our kids are average weight if not slightly under average weight. Its just genetics and who knows, maybe something medical as well.

Its so unfair to take kids based on this. Now I realize some parents just let their kid sit on the couch and eat chips all day to keep them quiet...but still...its no reason to steal kids...all that does is ruin people's lives. At least the fat kids are probably happy...that is until the gov't starts messing around with them.

[joyfulpraise93]

OH no..tha'ts terrible! The government has WAY too much hand in family affairs.

[Anon]

Granted its in Europe, but usually we follow after them by several years.

They showed one family where they took the kid...they were lower income...but the kid was actually stealing food. It seemed almost like a mental disorder. You can't just take people's kids like that.

[Angelmiss49]

A few yeas ago this happened to family in New Mexico or Texas The family The family had to fight to obtain custody of their daughter.
Angemiss

[BlessedChristianlady8]

That is why when I have kids they will be limited on things. I wish the government stops invading privacy.

[deafnva77]

terrible.

[Alimantado]

They showed one family where they took the kid...they were lower income...but the kid was actually stealing food. It seemed almost like a mental disorder. You can't just take people's kids like that.

Putting aside individual cases for a second, there is a general question here: can a parent endanger their own child's life or health by overfeeding them? If the answer is yes, then should the child be protected in the same way it would be if the parent endangered their child's life by starving them or giving them alcohol, for example? Until recently this question would have been academic because obesity in general wasn't so widespread, but things have changed and it now seems a real possibility. And there's the question of whether diabetes can be contracted from chronic obesity--and many say the link is there--in which case a child's diet could result in health problems for life and a shorted lifespan.

Obviously there is just concern that an overbearing state might take away kids just for being fat, but at the other end of the scale, what would be the difference between a parent feeding their kid so much food that it develops diabetes and a parent giving their kid so much alcohol that it develops liver problems? In the latter case I'm sure the state would intervene.

[Anon]

Its not necessarily the parents giving it, often its the kid just taking it...

You could say "This parent isn't teaching their kid self control"....but I see kids like that in the grocery store all the time. Take those guys too?

[deafnva77]

I know someone did steal food when she was a kid, had a terrible sweet tooth.

Her mom had to hide all junk foods from her and she would still fine them.

And when she had cereal, She would put globs and globs of sugar in it.

She loved cheese and milk too. but because her mother had other mouths to feed, she could not feed them properly.

This girl keep stealing food it and it was draining their money. So the mother couldn't buy much, And all of them turned out very skinny, and the girl was semi-skinny/normal weight.

Now if the family did have money, and the mother could feed her other kids properly, this girl would have been overweight, and the rest would be normal weight.

[deafnva77]

Putting aside individual cases for a second, there is a general question here: can a parent endanger their own child's life or health by overfeeding them? If the answer is yes, then should the child be protected in the same way it would be if the parent endangered their child's life by starving them or giving them alcohol, for example? Until recently this question would have been academic because obesity in general wasn't so widespread, but things have changed and it now seems a real possibility. And there's the question of whether diabetes can be contracted from chronic obesity--and many say the link is there--in which case a child's diet could result in health problems for life and a shorted lifespan.

Obviously there is just concern that an overbearing state might take away kids just for being fat, but at the other end of the scale, what would be the difference between a parent feeding their kid so much food that it develops diabetes and a parent giving their kid so much alcohol that it develops liver problems? In the latter case I'm sure the state would intervene.

alcohol is illegal.... parents should not give it to them at all. Junk food is not illegal.

But I know that starving them to the point they become weak and died is neglect.


BTW, I heard a vegeterian (sp?) nearly killed her child from vegetarian diet.

[Anon]

BTW, I heard a vegeterian (sp?) nearly killed her child from vegetarian diet.

Honestly, that happens more often than killing a child out of obesity.

[Alimantado]

Its not necessarily the parents giving it' date=' often its the kid just taking it. You could say "This parent isn't teaching their kid self control"....but I see kids like that in the grocery store all the time. Take those guys too? [/quote']
No, I'd only advocate taking a child away from its parents if the parent was making no effort to prevent their child from becoming dangerously obese, was unwilling to take any steps to change their attitude and if left unchecked the situation was likely to result in the child dying or becoming seriously ill. The article was talking about 'extreme cases.'

Anyway, from what you've said above you seem to think whether or not the parent is to blame should have something to do with it. I would say that it doesn't matter whether or not the parent is to blame. Even if the parent is 100% to blame for their child becoming dangerously ill the child shouldn't be taken away if things can still be remedied at home. But on the other hand, if my child was out of control and despite my best efforts he/she looked to be in serious danger, I'd accept whatever intervention might help save my child.


Fair enough. Where I come from in the UK it isn't illegal: you can give alcohol to children in your own home. But if you endangered the child's health by doing so, I expect social services would soon become involved. would that be an invasion of privacy, as KJVKayBeliever suggests it would for obesity?

[Anon]

My thing is, the government doesn't know where to draw the line. They find more and more reasons to take kids from parents. In Germany, its homeschooled kids. In Britain now its going to be fat kids. Not all parents are perfect, and not all parents are even good...but there has to be some kind of semblance of privacy. The government can't even do their own job right half the time, why worry about what the parents are doing?

Save the superhero tactics for those children in grave and mortal and immediate danger (sex slaves, severe abuse, starvation, etc). The rest lies on the parents...yes, even bad parents.

[deafnva77]

you have to be careful here though, because some parents would probably whipped their kids because they don't want them to be taken away if they have a eating disorder --which is VERY hard habit to break ... I seen it with the same person mention earlier in this post.. She is adult now and still have trouble controlling her eating habits--

kinda like whipping someone for pulling her hair off her head (from disorder) out of fear someone will take them away. Because nothing else seem to be working.

[Alimantado]

My thing is, the government doesn't know where to draw the line. They find more and more reasons to take kids from parents. In Germany, its homeschooled kids. In Britain now its going to be fat kids. Not all parents are perfect, and not all parents are even good...but there has to be some kind of semblance of privacy. The government can't even do their own job right half the time, why worry about what the parents are doing?

Save the superhero tactics for those children in grave and mortal and immediate danger (sex slaves, severe abuse, starvation, etc). The rest lies on the parents...yes, even bad parents.

I'd have to agree with all of this! Good answer.