Should parents lose custody of super obese kids?

[Robin Garr]

FR: No. I don't know what is going on in anyone's life enough to make that type of judgement. I do know genetics can play a large part in a person's build, but I am not qualified to decide something like that, and the way the government runs things (any party any time) I am not comfortable letting them decide such an important and potentially devastating issue.

Very well said. You just saved me a lot of typing.

Perhaps we could roll this into the Nationalized Healthcare System. Folks could be required to get a license before procreating. That way, government bureaucrats could keep all those undesirables from having children and thus raising costs to the government health plan.

::shakes my cane::
No. I'll rear my kids just fine, thankyouverymuch. (OK, she's adult now)

The nanny state can go somewhere else. Europe maybe.

And get off my lawn.

No. Not only is it just plain wrong, it doesn't work in the long term.

Many years ago I was a social worker for the state of Alabama. I was given a case invovling a third grade girl that weighed nearly 250 lbs. Mom was over 400lbs, dad 300 and a there was a very thin older brother.

Her teachers were distraught and wanted someting done. Higher ups decided we should file for custody, remove the little girl, hospitalize her for medically supervised weight loss and then place her in foster care while we worked with the parents on providing a healthy home for her to reurn to. My thought was No. No judge would go for this type of removal, the parents were not going to cooperate if we remove their child and nothing would improve without their cooperation.

So, I had numerous discussions with her pediatrician who refused to hospitalize for the very reasons I stated. Instead I asked him to try to educate mom on the health risks, which he had for years (her own mother died before she was 45), and enlist the help of our local extension board's nutritionist. She was a great woman, very nonjudgemental and tried to teach mom how to cook and shop.

Was this case successful? Not while I was there. It was constantly 3 lbs lost, 2 lbs gained. Change is hard. These folks had generations of obesity. Yes I agree putting your child at risk can be neglect but it isn't always as black and white as it seems.

Most parents do their best, most kids want to be with their parents no matter what. You can't begin to imagine the harm and hurt it causes when you remove a child from their parents custody, even for reasons you may think are right.

It has happened a few times in the U.S., and the opinion piece in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association says putting children temporarily in foster care is in some cases more ethical than obesity surgery.

It may or may not be more ethical. But the reality is that foster care is probably not the answer. There are multiple studies that indicate that once a person reaches the morbidly obese stage, getting back to a healthy BMI and staying at there can be incredibly difficult. The options are to work out 23.99 hours per day and eat lettuce, like is portrayed on Biggest Loser, or to have bariatric surgery. And most of us do not have the luxury to do nothing but work out, so surgery it is.

The way I see it - surgery is a tool to assist in the weight lose process (not a solution itself, if you don't use it, it doesn't work), foster care is not a solution and it is most likely not a tool in the process itself. While I know there are loving caring families that open their homes for foster children, there are other foster homes that are just not good situations. The foster care process is as skewed as any other process we have. I think comparing surgery to foster care is apples and oranges.

*Disclaimer - I am classified as a "super" morbidly obese individual, have struggled with weight all of my life and am in the final testing steps prior to have bariatric surgery (vertical gastric sleeve) in the coming months.

-Pete

*Disclaimer - I am classified as a "super" morbidly obese individual, have struggled with weight all of my life and am in the final testing steps prior to have bariatric surgery (vertical gastric sleeve) in the coming months.

-Pete

Good luck Pete!

Pete...prayers for you, please keep us informed of your progress

You know..when I was a kid (which was a lot more recent than some of you ol fogies on here ) I was able to just go out and play in the front yard, ride my bike all over our street/neighborhood without my parents hovering over me. But honestly, it's SO scary for kids out there now. Everyday we're confronted with stories (like the most recent in NY) of kids that go missing. I'd be so afraid to let them out of my sight. And for that reason, there are a lot of sedentary kids who can't go out and play without supervision. Combine that with cut programs from school and the horrible food choices, and you have overweight kids. I have a 45 lb 4 yr old. He's built like a tank. Funny thing is, is he only eats about 10 food items, the worst of which is 2 pieces of string cheese daily. He also eats green beans, peas, raisins, whole wheat bread, applesauce and yogurt.He only drinks skim milk, or severely watered down juice, no sodas or kool aid. I couldn't get him to eat a happy meal if I tried. But he's still big, and active. I shudder at the thought of govt trying to say that I'm making him fat from what I'm feeding him. Get out of my business govt!!

Perhaps we could roll this into the Nationalized Healthcare System. Folks could be required to get a license before procreating. That way, government bureaucrats could keep all those undesirables from having children and thus raising costs to the government health plan.

Obesity already costs the U.S. 147 billion dollars a year. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5807a1.htm

How much more do you suppose we'd spend?

Perhaps we could roll this into the Nationalized Healthcare System. Folks could be required to get a license before procreating. That way, government bureaucrats could keep all those undesirables from having children and thus raising costs to the government health plan.

Obesity already costs the U.S. 147 billion dollars a year. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5807a1.htm

How much more do you suppose we'd spend?

I was being sarcastic, to illustrate that nationalized healthcare can be used to justify all kinds of power grabs and intrusions into folks' private lives. Even I didn't think it would come to taking kids away from there parents. Thanks for the creepiest illustration so far.

[Robin Garr]

Pete...prayers for you, please keep us informed of your progress

What Bev said, Pete!

But honestly, it's SO scary for kids out there now. Everyday we're confronted with stories (like the most recent in NY) of kids that go missing. I'd be so afraid to let them out of my sight.

Ahhhhhhh hell, that's just so much B.S. Not sayin' stuff like that doesn't happen but hell, ya'll watch this crap on the news and then convince yourselves that there is a boogy man lurking on every street corner. That wasn't true 20 years ago, it ain't true now and it won't be true 20 years from now. Acknowledging your personal special circumstances what parents OUGHT to be doing is throwing the kids a football...or some lumber to build a tree house with and then give 'em a swift kick out the door with instructions not to come back until the street lights come on. SOME parents (no doubt no one on THIS forum) are turning these kids into nothing more than video-game-playing-I-can't-play-unless-it's-an-organized-event-cheese-pizza-eating-lard-assed-cheese-weenies.

Case in point...about the same time my kids were going off college, I used to wake up in the morning and while drinking my morning coffee could not help but to observe the bus stop at the end of my street... Always 6, maybe 8 kids waiting for the bus and an equal number of parents standing around to make sure everyone played "fair" and took turns getting on the bus first. Buncha parental morons is what they were...Survival of the fittest, let the kids choose their own pecking order...That's how the real world works, at least out here in Garage Logic.

I'll grant you, giving 'em a swift kick out the door to go play "Kick the Can" after dark is gonna end up pissing off a lot of "Get Off My Grass" curmudgeons like me but hey I can handle it if it will toughen these kids up and get 'em up and off their video-game-playing asses to get a little unsupervised character building exercise and play time. Do that and ya'll wouldn't need to be having this discussion about taking people's kids away...I'd bet on it.
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v......Ehhhhhhh sorry about that, I didn't realize I was talking in my "outside" voice Sorry to interrupt, Ya'll were talking about taking fat kids away from their parents...so carry on.

Ahhhhhhh hell, that's just so much B.S. Not sayin' stuff like that doesn't happen but hell, ya'll watch this crap on the news and then convince yourselves that there is a boogy man lurking on every street corner. That wasn't true 20 years ago, it ain't true now and it won't be true 20 years from now. Acknowledging your personal special circumstances what parents OUGHT to be doing is throwing the kids a football...or some lumber to build a tree house with and then give 'em a swift kick out the door with instructions not to come back until the street lights come on. SOME parents (no doubt no one on THIS forum) are turning these kids into nothing more than video-game-playing-I-can't-play-unless-it's-an-organized-event-cheese-pizza-eating-lard-assed-cheese-weenies.

Case in point...about the same time my kids were going off college, I used to wake up in the morning and while drinking my morning coffee could not help but to observe the bus stop at the end of my street... Always 6, maybe 8 kids waiting for the bus and an equal number of parents standing around to make sure everyone played "fair" and took turns getting on the bus first. Buncha parental morons is what they were...Survival of the fittest, let the kids choose their own pecking order...That's how the real world works, at least out here in Garage Logic.

I'll grant you, giving 'em a swift kick out the door to go play "Kick the Can" after dark is gonna end up pissing off a lot of "Get Off My Grass" curmudgeons like me but hey I can handle it if it will toughen these kids up and get 'em up and off their video-game-playing asses to get a little unsupervised character building exercise and play time. Do that and ya'll wouldn't need to be having this discussion about taking people's kids away...I'd bet on it.

+1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEsORPQO840&NR=1

on it being safer 30 years ago i dont agree, adam walsh , ann gottlieb (sorry cant spell the last name) the girl who got snatched at bashford manor mall , didnt keep us playing in are yard and if u go to the west end kids play without fear all over there neighborhood but in lake forest the boogie man is just outside your yard in a trench coat in a 70s paneled van waiting to snatch your kid. yes there are more cars and people on cell phones with gps ,didnt have that 30 years ago if u yell help ten people pull out phones to call 911 , 30 years ago u had to find a pay phone and change to use it

just looked it up , higher abduction rates in the 70s than today and kids who walk or ride bikes to school have much lower bfi than kids who dont ,please google subject if u think im wrong , we didnt have cable news then and amber alerts to let u hear about every abduction just the six a clock news and the morning paper ,