An 8 year old taken from his mother due to obesity

[iceberg]

A Cleveland third grader who weighed more than 200 pounds was taken from his mother after officials reportedly said she did not do enough to help the boy, who suffered from a weight-related health issue, to lose weight.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2...n-foster-care/

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This sparks some debates over cases like this.

[billm]

200 lbs at 8 years old = negligence, something is wrong with the parent. They are simply not capable of taking care of the child, and the child deserves that.

Now the child suffers more by being removed from their home. Right decision though.

[Pursuinghappiness]

They had a case like this on Dr Phil a couple years back. Kid was extremely obese, was being harrassed at school, had signs of type II diabetes, and his teeth were rotting from all the sugar he was intaking.

During the show...the mother, who was also overweight, kept claiming that the child had undiagnosed health issues and kept dragging him from doctor to doctor. She also claimed he didn't eat that much.

After the show...the father took her to court, got custody of the child...and in the year after, the kid lost somewhere around 60ish pounds. There was absolutely nothing physically wrong with him that wasn't caused by overeating and lack of exercise and fresh air.

Recently he had a follow-up show on regarding this and more parents who's kids are overweight and they're in danger of losing custody of...frankly, I support the action if other parental invention has been tried and fails. I don't think removal should be a first step though. But definitely, a long history of overfeeding kids to the point that they're developing health and socialization issues is a form of child abuse.

[iceberg]

Yup, it sure is child negligence but if i were with the cas maybe working with the mother to help the child would be worth a shot because the kid is 8 and being taken from his mom is tuff on him, maybe traumatic.

[May_May]

I had to re-read...I thought the obese mother had her child taken away because she couldn't care for him. I cannot imagine how this could happen ? my boys are so busy, healthy eaters, and physically active... Think about the buildup already in his arteries ! Not off to a good start for a young lad...