Should parents lose custody of super obese kids?

I think it should be treated like any other child abuse case.

That is definitely considered child abuse, but I do agree that some action should be taken before removing the children from the family.
If the family can make the changes to make life for their child more healthy (given that's the only problem), then they should definitly have a chance.

Taking away is extreme IMO. Intervention is more appropriate. Parents do need to be responsible though since kids aren't buying the food. They are only eating what's available to them.

A former colleague once invited me to a church event with her family. I was seated at a table with her 2 yr. old daughter and the rest of the family. I was speechless when the child's plate of food arrived and was placed in front of her by her mother.

The 2 yr. old was served: 3 fried whole chicken wings, about 1 cup of mac & cheese and nearly 3 cups of spagetti! NO KIDDING!! I was in total shock because I didn't know a child this age was capable of eating so much and I was horrified that the mother would dare to put such unhealthy portions on her child's plate.

The child ate half of one wing and a couple spoons of mac and cheese, then she proceeded to move away from the dinner table.

At that moment, you would have thought a fire drill sounded because several members of the family haulted her, even sent for the mother to return from the kitchen and aide with making sure the child remained at the table to finish what was on her plate. The mother came to her child, sat next to her and insisted that she eat all her food.

After awhile, I couldn't watch anymore; I had to leave.

This 2 yr. old weighed so much, I was sure I could not lift her even though I weighed 170 lbs.

Yes indeed! That is child abuse.

What about kids who play too much video games? Or kids who are thin who drink energy drinks and eat too much candy? Or kids who bully others. Where do we draw the line? I agree morbid obesity in kids is dangerous. But taking a child out of the family home and breaking up a family I am not so sure. I guess if mom and dad were smoking crack we would remove minor children. Very complicated

I don't agree with taking children away from parents just because they're obese. We don't take children away from teen moms that can't provide for their children, why should we take them away because they are overfeeding their child? A little education can go a long way though. Growing up I had pizza every Tuesday night and lived practically across the street from McDonalds. I must have had a fast metabolism and the fact that I was in a bunch of sports in high school must have helped because 140 lbs was the heaviest I've ever gotten (I was 130 in high school), but I could see that adversely affecting other children if that sorta food was all they ever ate. When I wasn't hungry anymore I would just tell my mother that I wasn't hungry. I don't think it's always in the parents control. I know families where parents stock their pantries with sugary snacks to keep their kids out of their hair and one child will be a normal size and the other will be obese. Maybe teaching kids about health education early on and if PE class at public schools wasn't such a joke sometimes, it could help this too.

It seems that there should be mandatory parenting classes pre- and post-birth because what would seem common sense to me apparently isn't to a lot of people.

There seems to be alot of ignorance and selfishness and mental issues among parents.

And I agree that it seems more appropriate to provide some intervention before children are taken away (which I think is the case in some instances depending...), in the end the child and family suffers if anything inappropriate, unhealthy or damaging occurs. Why wait until a child is affected to start correction, why not provide mandatory child-rearing classes covering nutrition, behavior, hygiene, appropriate discipline, stress, etc. and the penalties and consequences if they do not adhere to proper guidelines?

It would take some figuring out how and where to fit it in and who would pay for it, If we had a national health plan it would seem to fit right in.....

I think te government coming in and telling ANYONE how they should raise THEIR children should be a no-no unless the parents are physically beating them or not feeding them.


Our government already has too much power, giving them more power will only result in the giving and giving of more of our freedoms. Pretty soon we wont be able to buy soda, sugar, or go to mcdonalds more than twice a week.

Then we will have to eat only what the government will allow. If you pay attention to current events you can see the chain of events that is already happening. I for one can controll how much soda i drink and how much fast food i eat. Dont punish us all on the account of others.

In the description in the original post, it is the parents fault the kids are obese and is in my opinion, definitely physical abuse.

IDK...I come from a household where my mom controlled how much and what I ate but I somehow managed to sneak and hide food from her. It's not her fault that I was fat/obese as she wasn't feeding me crazy amounts of food that caused me to gain. We didn't eat extremely healthily either (she was on welfare when I was growing up) so the foods we did eat were cheap and quick but our portions were child size.

With all due respect, my mother was a single mother of 2 and also got a lot of help from benefits when we were younger, but instead of buying cheap burgers, she'd buy raw fruit and vegetables and learn to cook. I'm not taking 'being on welfare' as an excuse im afraid, we were giving home cooked, healthy food on a tight budget. and we never had the opportunity in our household to sneak food or hide food, because there was no food to hide, just raw vegetables and fruit! Just wondering if the food you were hiding were chocolates/sweets/crisps etc..? because if it was, then your mother is partly to blame for you being fat as a child..sorry, im just saying

I think it's a massive issue and one that effects the family as a whole not just the kids. After all, how many families have you seen where the child is severley overweight and the parents arn't, in those rare cases you can assume a medical condition or perhaps abuse. The issue is in most cases the parents being unable to take care of their own bodies and passing that on to the child. I would love to see a push for education on food and places like Mcdonalds being made to create awareness of the damage fast food can do to your body, and hopefully follow suit by increasing the quality of their meat and produce generally.

I don't know if anyone saw "Jamie's Food Revolution" but that hit on some of the big issues contributing to childhood obesity.

I don't think that weight itself should be the judging factor--but nourishment. Being underweight can be attributed to different things, such as being premature, or high metabolism, but they still receive the right nutritional content to be healthy.

I guess one would have to ask if an obese child is receiving the nutritional content they should be. I know as a nurse and many obese adults (and alcoholics), they are malnourished due to irratic eating habits, binging and crazy diets. This can be translated into the children. Tough question.

To be the devils advocate (and being from Canada and knowing the changes to the American health care system)--how will you feel about paying taxes/health care costs for other people that choose to eat, drink and do to their bodies what they will and to their children? These people and their kids is what forces up healthcare costs due to chronic illnesses that are considered PREVENTABLE. Obesity is preventable is most people (there are some diseases that make low weight nearly impossible).

I'm all for pro-choice, but honestly, as a nurse, i think the government should be able to say when enough is enough, and when they can draw the line to limit costs. If you chose to live a healthy lifestyle and suddenly needed hospitalization for whatever reason, but had to wait because the beds were already full of people from chronic heart problems, strokes, diabetes, etc., you'd likely get a little frustrated too. Your wait times increase substantially and you get worse care based on time for diagnosis. I just think its a little uneven. Same analogy can be used if I needed a lung transplant and i was a smoker, and you needed one and you werent a smoker, and I got the priority regardless of how preventable lunch cancer can be.

That's my two cents, like I said, I'm pro choice, but I hope people make better choices every day. I love my job, but its sometimes exhausting listening to people that neglect themselves intentionally, some don't know better because of lack of education/age, and some choose to keep themselves mal-informed; and then there's me: we have the tools and knowledge and we cant get our crap together hehe

The mother's in the article where CPS intervened, did NOT lose their children in 5 minutes. CPS usually doesn't make immediate decisions on whether a child should be removed from a home unless there is imminent bodily harm. The mothers knew there was an open CPS case against them. CPS workers must investigate all situation.

What I find sad is when parents complain that they have no time to cook so all they can do is feed their children fast food and processed food. And honestly for anyone to have that excuse is rediculous! Oatmeal takes 1 minutes to make in the microwave. It takes 5 minutes to season chicken breasts and put them on a pan and into the oven. Do something else for the next 45 minutes and there will also be pre-made chicken for fast meals. No one is saying be a gourmet chef. But chili in a crockpot is cheap, healthy and easy to make.

I do understand that there are more sales on processed foods than wholesome foods. BUT 1 apple will fill a person up much more than a sleeve of sugar-filled Oreo cookies. So 2 apples is definitely cheaper than a package of Oreos. Wholesome foods fill humans up faster and for longer. Hence in the long run, making them the same price or cheaper.

WIC (government benefits) are very strict with what parents can buy. They include wholesome healthy foods. So that excuse flies out the window.

I do blame my mother for most of my horrible eating habits. She never cooked and all we ate was junk, processed, refined foods. So that is what I knew. Nutritional foods are down the "center ailses." We know what we are taught by schools, parents, and tv. It took me many years to learn how to feed my body. If I was told my snack was an apple or nothing, I truly believe I would've known many years ago that I love apples and that they fuel the body for the long term not the quick sugar fix.

With all that prefaced, I truly believe in intervention before removal. I think if groups can implement free nutrition and cooking classes for parents than many of these cases won't become super obese/child abuse cases. But if intervention doesn't work and the child is still obese then yes, maybe removal is the best for the child.