should morbidly obese children be taken from parents?

Bypassing the article I say yes. They are putting their child's health at risk. I remember some stories a few years ago about morbidly obese children in the US being taken away from their parents and I thought it was a good idea. Let the parent take some nutrition classes while the foster home puts the kid on the right track.

Hey, and what if the caseworker is obese? What if the foster family is obese? What if the family law judge is obese?

No, they shouldnt be taken away. Instead if the system is so interested in the family they should put some money behind educating them about food and exercise instead of wasting more on using the system to take the kids away. More than likely it's simply a matter of the parents not knowing the dangers of overeating and just need a little help learning instead of taking what is probably the only thing in their life worth living for away.

As a whole I would say no. I think intervention should be made in the forms of education instead. However, it depends on the situation.

I know a child that is so morbidly obese that the doctor informed his morbidly obese mother that if he doesn't lose weight within a year he will be dead. He has several serious health problems from his weight. Her intervention is that he can no longer have thirds (but can still have seconds). He is fed a steady diet of fast food and fried southern cuisine. He watches tv and plays video games all day.

Its not the child's fault, it's the mothers. No the child shouldn't be punished, but the point of CPS is to remove a child who is in danger to protect them. The are plenty of parents who love the children they beat or sexually abuse. I have no doubt she loves her son. However she doesn't know how to eat or live healthy herself and doesn't want to learn. Not even to save her child's life. The child has no medical conditions causing the weight. The mother has been offered counseling and nutrition classes but refuses to attend.

The doctor has reported her to CPS and they are monitoring the situation for now. If he gains or remains the same weight by this summer he will be removed. Should he be taken away?

Bypassing the article I say yes. They are putting their child's health at risk. I remember some stories a few years ago about morbidly obese children in the US being taken away from their parents and I thought it was a good idea. Let the parent take some nutrition classes while the foster home puts the kid on the right track.

Hey, and what if the caseworker is obese? What if the foster family is obese? What if the family law judge is obese?

They can be obese all they want, Im talking about morbidly obese kids that suffer from diabetes and sleep apnea and have to wear size 5x clothing from Rainbows.

I worked in the group home system and worked with kids on Foster home.. Trust me, they are better off with their parents if the worst of their problems are being over fed or not being taught proper nutrition - that's something that can be taught, and their weight is something that can be fixed or changed, but to strip them from their family and put them with strangers that may or may not abuse and mistreat them is just wrong. There are better ways.

Strongly agree. Children should not be taken away because a family is giving a child too much food. Simply educate them/offer counselling/etc.

We are already soending money on someone else's chubby kids! I know TONS of obese children on medicaid. One teenager that I'm very close to just had to have bloodwork done and had to wear a heart monitor all day yesterday. The problem all boils down to her being extremely overweight. The whole family is overweight. Our taxes are paying for her care. I'd rather the taxes go to prevention!

Governments need to take accountabillity before they mess with anyone's children, look at daily recommende foods on most government site's, most recommend approx 7 servings of Bread(rice,pasta,cereal) witch are mostly simple carbs and loaded with sugar and only recommend 2 to 3 servings of meat and or milk/cheese/yogourt.
You misinform society and then make them accountable, they should have government funded programs to educate on PROPER nutrition and funded exercise programs and then if nothing is done by the parents to help these kids, the government sould step in.Because the children suffer for everyone else mistakes once again.

Actually, the WIC program is in place... but it's voluntary. Typically people go for the free milk, peanut butter, eggs, cheese... but they require families to go to classes. They will also tell pregnant girls they need to gain way too much weight!

The free bkfst/lunch programs are the worst gunk kids can eat! I offered my kid we would pay for the hot lunches if she wanted... the kid recoiled! She said its nasty! Anyway, government funded nasty, fatty food!

So this is what poorer families qualify for. Then they have McD's...

Eta: In my barrio sooo many kids would be taken from their parents... tons of morbidly obese kids. Educate the kids!!! Then they can bug their parents to actually cook healthier! Kids are impressionable.

My observation: Fat parents usually have fat little minnie me's... kids never even had the chance!

WIC was intended for people who would likely otherwise be malnourished (meaning starving or suffering from lack of food).
Your child is obviously not going hungry. The choice between going hungry and eating the "nasty" food makes the "nasty" food much more palatable.

FTR: "Government cheese" gets a bad rap, but it's actually just mild cheddar, which is basically American cheese (the real deal, pricey stuff, not Velveeta).

I stay out of other family's business unless I am 100% sure something terrible is going on. To make a blanket statement would be ridiculous.

I am never for having the government stick their nose in my life.

There is no clear answer.

^This!

This is Daily Mail scaremongering. In the article it appears that the question asked was around cases where 'children taken in to care where obesity was a factor'. Please note the phrase, 'was a factor'. Obesity on it's own is unlikely to be the cause.

My husband and I have just been approved as potential adoptive parents, we have learnt a lot about children's social services in the last year. Putting a child into care is not taken lightly, much work would have been done with the family before this happens (unless the child is in immediate harm from physical/ sexual abuse). Once the child is in care the first priority is to work with the family so that the child can return. It is only if the family is unwilling to change that the child would be permanently taken from them.

So there is opportunity in the system for the family to change their habits and to be educated in healthy eating. There is currently a big Fit For Life national campaign here in the UK, so plenty of information is available.

But back to my first point of obesity being a factor. The implication is that there are other factors in the cases and these we will never know. They don't make such a sensational article.

In many cases, parents don't know proper nutrition either. And people on fixed incomes often limited options in grocery shopping. And it isn't safe to play outside anymore. A whole lot of things work against kids anymore. But to start taking away children because of fat just opens the doors for being able to take kids away for any little reason whatsoever. "I'm sorry, your child's scores dropped this term. If they don't go up next term we will take your child away." I think it sets a bad precident.

My kids play outside all the time.

You're in the minority, though. Parents are so paralyzed with the fear that their kids are going to be kidnapped if they're out of their sight for five seconds that they don't let them just go out and play like we did.

It's been like that for a while. My daughter is 19 and it was like that when she was little. Thankfully, she had a few local friends who had reasonable parents, though.

It is as safe to play outside now as it was 30, 40 and even 50 years ago. We just have 24/7 news now so everything gets talked about, no matter how small, and it makes it seem like it's more dangerous.

Parents need to buck up and take control of their neighborhoods. Statistically, it's safer today than it was in the 70s and 80s. When I was a kid and someone "creepy" was around, I simply ran away. We had no cell phones or social media, etc.

We have only lived in our home for 18 months, but every kid in the neighborhood knows the Terry House and knows if any creepy tweakers or weird people are around, they can come to our house if they have no cell phone and we'll drive them home or call their parents for them.

Wonderful. And, honestly, it's not as though there are creepy people hanging around every corner, FPS. You have to teach your kids to be alert, not go with strangers, things like that. They DO listen and understand. Teach them to trust their instincts and that it's OK to be "rude" to someone who makes them uncomfortable, even if it's an adult.

It's more likely some friend or family member is going to harm your child than a complete stranger, anyway. Kids just need to be given the right tools. They will use them.

Exactly.

Governments need to take accountabillity before they mess with anyone's children, look at daily recommende foods on most government site's, most recommend approx 7 servings of Bread(rice,pasta,cereal) witch are mostly simple carbs and loaded with sugar and only recommend 2 to 3 servings of meat and or milk/cheese/yogourt.
You misinform society and then make them accountable, they should have government funded programs to educate on PROPER nutrition and funded exercise programs and then if nothing is done by the parents to help these kids, the government sould step in.Because the children suffer for everyone else mistakes once again.

Actually, the WIC program is in place... but it's voluntary. Typically people go for the free milk, peanut butter, eggs, cheese... but they require families to go to classes. They will also tell pregnant girls they need to gain way too much weight!

The free bkfst/lunch programs are the worst gunk kids can eat! I offered my kid we would pay for the hot lunches if she wanted... the kid recoiled! She said its nasty! Anyway, government funded nasty, fatty food!

So this is what poorer families qualify for. Then they have McD's...

Eta: In my barrio sooo many kids would be taken from their parents... tons of morbidly obese kids. Educate the kids!!! Then they can bug their parents to actually cook healthier! Kids are impressionable.

My observation: Fat parents usually have fat little minnie me's... kids never even had the chance!

WIC was intended for people who would likely otherwise be malnourished (meaning starving or suffering from lack of food).
Your child is obviously not going hungry. The choice between going hungry and eating the "nasty" food makes the "nasty" food much more palatable.

FTR: "Government cheese" gets a bad rap, but it's actually just mild cheddar, which is basically American cheese (the real deal, pricey stuff, not Velveeta).

This is true. Stealing cafeteria food was a huge problem in the first school district where I taught. 80% of students qualified for the free/reduced lunch program.

The second district where I worked was most middle class kids. The amount of food that got wasted in the cafeteria was shocking, especially in comparison to the first district.

It's very frustrating. what is there to do? It's horrible to take kids away from their parents, the system is already overtaxed. I advocate for education, but that still doesn't mean that people are going to change their habits. Do we just eventually leave them to it and call it a day? There is no good answer.

Perhaps we should implement a government enforced policy that anyone who supports taking someone's children away by force for any reason whatsoever should have their children taken away from them?

:huh:

Answering just the topic question and HIPPOing the rest (Happily Ignoring Previous Posts, Okay?)

I say, while it is a tragedy that these children are put into such a situation where they are malnurished in a different way.... the effects aren't as immediate as withholding food... or other abuses... so while, it breaks my heart... there also may be legitimate health issues that's leading to the child being obese in the first place... While I think there should be some help for these families to figure out how to lose weight and keep it off and stay healthy... I don't think taking them away from there family is the best thing... I think it can exacerbate the problem and there are far worse cases that have more immediate consequences than this... So lets deal with those first.

I would love it if everyone saying, "education, counseling, nutrition coaches for all" would say how much extra a year they're willing to personally spend in taxes to pay for it.

All of a sudden it'll become, "Why do I have to spend my money on someone else's chubby kids?!?"

In the United States, at least, we all receive basic nutrition education in school. I learned in kindergarten (and it was reinforced every year after) what foods were healthy and to limit things like cake and candy. This is already being provided. If people are ignoring it, there isn't much anyone can do.