Taking obese children from their parents???

The govt stepping in and taking children, unless it is straight up child abuse, is never good. For the most part, the govt causes more problems than it solves.

In my experience, the price per pound for hamburger meat goes up in roughly 50-cent increments, when the percentage of fat in the meat goes down. I usually get 90% lean hamburger meat, but I wait for it to go on sale if I can, because it can be $1 - $1.50 *per pound* more expensive than the 75% lean meat. That's just one example of healthier food being more expensive. Also, organic foods tend to cost more, from what I've seen on my shopping trips (the packaged stuff moreso than the produce, though).

I can't even fathom what a child of 10 or 11 years, weighing 300 lbs, must look like. There's got to be more to it than just fast food. The average kid can get away with eating a small portion of fast food now and then and not be morbidly obese. There must be a lack of supervision going hand in hand with the fast food for a kid to gain that much weight at that age. I'm thinking that the child had unlimited access to food at home and very little supervision, and probably little to no physical activity. We all know how easy it is, as an adult, to sit in front of the television and mindlessly inhale a big bag of potato crisps or a package of cookies, right? It's just as easy for a kid to do it, when there's not an adult around to tell them not to.

That being said, taking a child away from their parents should be the very last resort in this situation. I wonder if there was any attempt to allow the mother to try and correct the situation on her own before the government stepped in. So sad. A child should not have to suffer obesity, but neither should they have to suffer an unwanted separation from their parents, which is an emotional trauma in and of itself.

Here is a thought, why don't they take the time and money they put into taking these children from parents that are trying there best, and use it to help reduce the cost of healthier food options? Seems abit much if you ask me, a mom trying her best working 2 jobs to make it and they take her child. That is pretty messed up!

Here is a thought, why don't they take the time and money they put into taking these children from parents that are trying there best, and use it to help reduce the cost of healthier food options? Sees abit much if you ask me, a mom trying her best working 2 jobs to make it and they take her child. That is pretty messed up!

Looking for logic in the government is like looking for intelligence in a rock.

hahaha true!

If they really want to make a difference, they need to regulate what is in our food and what is available at the stores to feed our children. 100 years ago, all you had to eat was good food. Let's go back to those days...

We will be able to do that in 2012 when we go back to farming and hunting. lol

Nu huh. According to the Aztecs, I got no worries after 2012. w00t!

I think if you want to eat healthy you can. Im sure those grocery bills would go down if there was some serious portion control too. Again, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Im sure there is a small percentage that has an actual medical condition. However, they cant afford not to eat better. PERIOD. We have become a nation (USA) of excuses. Losers make excuses Winners get it done! (sorry an old boss used to say that! he was a former football coach!) but its true.

EXACTLY!~

That's a tough one. 99.9% of the time, I would argue that this would be inappropriate but like everything in life, there are exceptions. Just like the state can (and should) intervene if a child is found to be malnurished, allowing a child to reach the most extreme levels of morbid obesity could qualify as a form of abuse given the major health risks that exist.

It's a slippery slope though - 1) how extreme must the obesity be to intervene?, 2) at what age does the child become more accountable for what they choose to eat (I would argue that a parent is more accountable for a morbidly obese 6 year old versus a morbidly obese 17 year old)?

It's a shame that school funding issues have decimated physical education programs in this country and politics have the fringe right wingers (I'm a registered Republican) going nuts over Michelle Obama's obesity inititiatives. Obesity is becoming more serious and the long term costs to our nations health care and national security (the pool of people eligible for military service continues to shrink in proportion to our expanding national girth) are far too great to continue to ignore.

I don't fully buy into the healthier stuff being more expensive as the primary driver for our obesity epidemic. Yes, it is true that healthier foods are more costly but I think that the vast majority of our problem results from portion control. I ate McDonalds and drank soda when I was young but this was when the portions were a fraction of today's size. I think that the "super size" mentality has carried over to all meals whether eating out or at home. Coke and Pepsi used to be sold in 8 OZ bottles and now, 12 OZ to 20 OZ is the norm. Couple our increased portions with a lack of exercise (I remember PE every day in school) and voila, we have a problem.

I live in California and the problem is bad but when I travel to other parts of the country and see school kids getting off the bus in places like Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, etc., the levels of extreme obesity are both alarming and heart breaking.

Sadly, far to many people seem to remain in a sad state of denial...

I think the gov't has a right to intervene, as childhood obesity is the fault of the parents, but to take away a child should only be the last resort. Education is the way to go. At least give the parents a chance to correct the behavior before taking the child away.

I hate how people say "it's more expensive eating healthy!". It's NOT TRUE!!! Fast food is actually a lot more expensive than buying fresh food, you just have to know where to shop...

I agree.... I actually don't spend as much and don't have to go to the store as often now. I'm not buying alll the junk food that I used to buy which frees up money. It does take me more time prep time because I grind turkey for burgers, blanch veggies to be frozen ect.....

Obesity is not child abuse unless she ties that child to a chair and force feeds him to obesity. Educate for change.

Addiction is a disease. Obesity is a disease, result of other disease, and contributor to other disease. As an eating disorder it's a disease.

"A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, esp. one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury"