200lb 8 year old boy....

DannyNovela

not trying to make excuses for the mom, but speaking from my own experience of gaining major weight during my childhood, sometimes socio-economic status makes it very easy for anyone to gain weight. my parents were hardworking but worked minimum wage labor type jobs. money was scarce after rent and bills so we shopped at bargain stores and bought bargain brands. these bargain foods obviously did not have the best or even decent nutritional value. the goal was to get more for the buck. due to this i went from an average sized 8 year old to a 140 9 yearold. as the years went on my eating habbits did not improve and by the time i hit college i was 230, i still gained 70 more pounds in college and got up to 300 lbs. all in all sometimes socio-economic status has alot to do with the way people gain weight and continue to gain weight.

bethdris

I have to say I am truly on the fence about this one. It is devastating to think of an eight year old boy at 200 lbs. I do think that is child abuse, just like smoking in a car with kids in it, not restraining your kid or child seat in a car with a seat belt, or taking them to a Rated R movie. I just get nervous when Child Protective Services get involved with parenting. I don't know, this is so extreme, and this definitely shows a gross amount of neglect on the parent's part. What would a foster parent be able to achieve, get the child in a weight loss program? Would foster parents that the authorities pick be qualified for that or care enough about the child to make sure he gets the help he needs. Almost all of my children are rail thin because they move around all the time, but my seventeen year old was with me through my heaviest, and he struggles with his weight. I took on the responsibility of taking him with me to the gym to lift and go out for bike rides and walks. It is making a difference. I would just want every possible avenue tried before the kid is taken away. That would be just too traumatic in my opinion.

We were foster parents and then were blessed to adopt our 2 older boys. There are levels of foster care licensing (at least where we live)...they do have some familes trained to work with health related issues in children. At least here...CPS tries to keep the children in the home and work with the parents as long as they deem the situtation is "safe" for the cihld to be there. CPS rules and regs vary by region.

warmachinejt

a lot of kids are overweight

karenjoy

It is cruel to do that to a child, there are very few medical reasons why a child gains weight, this is a case of poor parenting, I see a lot of obese children in my work, they almost always have an obese parent, who tells you all manner of excuses why their child is overweight....they never eat too much or do too little...they are big boned, the family are all like this...they all eat healthy, small portions and none of them ever eat too many treats or snacks...at least according to the parents, the child and their lunch box often tell a VERY different story. I am sure from my own experience that a LOT will have been tried and offered to help before this child was removed, and also in my experience they probably waited too long, in the vain hope that the parents would care enough to make the effort for their child, they clearly didn't.

People who are overweight themselves are often still of an excuse filled mind set to see things as they really are, all the reasons under the sun do not make a child overweight, it is too much food and not enough exercise.

dalgirly

I'm actually totally fine with this.

The reason why I'm fine, is because they worked hard with the mom for almost two years to get that boy be healthy. The parents didn't comply, and therefore have created an unhealthy (even deadly) environment for this child. (I am going to assume that the family was given means to give a healthy lifestyle to this child and just didn't comply).

kmcgrath1

There was a story like this years ago and the child was removed from the home with supervised visits from the mom. Once the child was removed, he dropped a lot of weight and reversed his diabetes.

At the first visit with his mom, she brought him McDonalds! Seriously?!? I think the parents need nutrition classes, not just the children. The mom said she's going to feed him whatever he wants...if he wants McDonalds, he's getting McDonalds.

And you have to ask this...he wouldn't know those foods if he wasn't introduced to them by parents who neglect their children's health!

LauraMacNCheese

I'm assuming he has been tested for all kinds of illnesses to eliminate a medical reason for his weight. Personally, Child Protective Services waited too long, they should have given her 3 months, we all know there can be a change as fast as that. I'm glad he is now under supervised care - this is the best thing to happen to him.

I hope the child was tested. My nephew has Prader-Willi Syndrome. One of the effects of this particular disorder is that he doesn't register that "I'm full" response when he eats. My brother & sister-in-law really have to police his diet to make sure that he eats nutritiously and doesn't eat too much.

The bottom line is that there could be any number of factors at play here...and for the mother's lawyers to say that the health concerns (diabetes, heart disease, etc) associated with the boy's weight aren't an "immediate concern" is too ludicrous to merit a response. I just hope they get this situation sorted out quickly and the little boy gets some help. As someone else here said, he must be terrified. My heart goes out to him.

kmcgrath1

Actually it has been reported that the child has already lost over 10 lbs in the month he has been in foster care.

ItsCasey

What would a foster parent be able to achieve, get the child in a weight loss program?

The article I read about this incident included a story about another girl (a 3-year-old who weighed 90 lbs) who was taken from her mother and placed into foster care. But when her condition didn't improve, they gave the girl back to her mom, and it was later discovered that she had a genetic predisposition causing her weight gain. So apparently they don't always run the appropriate tests, or, in some cases, the signs of these medical conditions don't manifest themselves until later on.

What bothers me about this story is that I feel quite certain the mother knew that her son could be removed from her custody if his condition didn't change. This boy was on a CPS-sponsored weight-loss program, presumably with periodic check-ins. The fact that he made no progress (and apparently got worse) tells me the mother just didn't care until they showed up to take her son, and now she wants to be all indignant about her rights as a parent.

She claimed that it was very hard to change their whole lifestyle and that she wasn't given enough time. To me, it sounds like she gave up the first time Junior refused to eat his veggies and handed him a Twinkie instead.

Coltsman4ever

It may not be a popular opinion but it's mine. I don't believe any government office should have the ability to come and take a child out of his home for something like this. The extended family should have intervened with the mother and took care of the problem in that manner. Yes I feel for the child and think it's wrong of the mother to let this happen.
Too many people look to the government to solve all our problems. Absolute BS!
It takes a village to raise a child. To me, that means family not government. Shame on that entire family!