What do you think of this case, where a 200 pound 3rd grader was placed in foster care because (the state said) the mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight?

The state has a point. The question is whether the kid can be predicted to fare better when thrown to the whims of he state. When does the need for clinical intervention overtake the nurturing of a loving parent?

That’s a pretty extreme solution.

As the article points out, there are thousands of severely obese children in the same geographical area. Are they going to do the same with them also?

I really dislike the government involvement here. Where does the line get drawn?

And since this is being done on the taxpayer’s dime, why weren’t better alternatives tried before resorting to something this drastic.

The money could be better spent hiring a qualified nutritionist to oversee this child’s diet on a daily basis if necessary. This way it gives the parents the tools necessary to deal with this problem.

I mean, the option of removal to foster care could better have been used as leverage or a motivator to the Mother to actually implement the nutritionists methods if she wasn’t willing to do that.

There are a variety of reasons behind obesity both physical and psychological.

If this particular child is an emotional eater, how does it help anything to rip him away from his family?

Yes, he may lose some weight in the short term but eventually they will have to return him to his family. If nothing has been learned by the Mother (other than to fear the State) how long before he regains that weight.

There is a lot of professional help which the State could be
providing to this family both Medical, Psychological, and nutritionally to ensure this child’s quality of life.

Why not go that route first rather than this extreme simply because they have the power to do so.

I think that, moneywise, providing the proper professional supervision to this family would be less costly than placement in foster care.

And that’s not even counting the emotional cost to this child and family which could be lifelong.

This is setting a bad precedent with shades of Orwell. We should be aiming for less of
the “Big Brother” mentality rather than more.

Yes, something needed to be done for this child. But there were a lot of other better choices to try first.

The mother should have her child taken away. In this particular case it is a form of child abuse. no mother should let a 3rd grader become 300 pounds.

I feel like this case was discussed in an earlier Fluther question, when the incident occurred.

http://www.fluther.com/125022/in-your-opinion-is-putting-obese-kids-into-foster-care-a/

I’m sure this mother had plenty of warning to clean up her act before they actually took the child away. They (the courts) bend over backwards to keep a child with their mother. Apparently the Mother has a big problem and wants her kid fat.

I can’t imagine a little 3rd grader being 300 lbs. He must have been round, literally.

It was 200 pounds. But that is still huge. How hard would it be to control a kid’s weight?

My step daughter has a son who is 6 now. When he was 2 she complained because ALL he would eat were these pop snacks, like a cereal. When they came over he’d be lugging a sack around with him. After about the 3rd time she complained I said, “Well, if it isn’t in the house, if you don’t buy it, he can’t eat it. He’ll have to find something else to eat.”
That was like an epiphany for her. She did just that. Problem solved.

From what the article said they HAD been working with her, for a year prior to this.

It’s 100% the parents fault outside of some super rare genetic issue or something like that.

I have an acquaintance who has a very overweight 10 year old. I guess the kid hides food in her room, and gets up at night to sneak food.

Mother seems like she was neglectful to let a little kid get to be that size.

200 lbs is huge for a third grader, who would probably be a little more than 40–46 inches. I can’t imagine.

I also wonder about people who are so obese they’re bed ridden. They can’t even stand up or cook for themselves, so somebody has to bring them food…...

I saw a show about a severely obese teen. The mom was bringing him burgers, fries and shakes. He was grumpy as heck, nasty and demanding and the mom was enabling him. WTF?

I know…the parents have some serious psychological problems too.

It’s my opinion that most severe morbid obese people have enablers who keep them that way intentional or not.

@jca

I read through the thread to which you linked from 2011. It was fascinating. Somehow I
missed it first time around.

It’s kind of interesting to see
how the general consensus
seems to have shifted.

The article states that they worked with her for a year prior but is pretty short on
specifics. And apparently the child did lose significant weight initially and it wasn’t until recently that he had ballooned up again.

To me this suggests some type of trauma or intervening circumstance which sabotaged the initial progress rather than her not cooperating at all.

I think there’s a lot of the story untold here. Obviously, a childs weight has a lot to do with the parents so it’s not as if they are faultless.

But it’s not as if she was totally recalcitrant either.

But the idea of the govt. yanking the child out of his home just doesn’t sit right with me. What guarantee is there that the foster parents will be any more successful in bringing about LASTING CHANGE which will persist when the child is back with his family?

The mother wasn’t doing enough to control his weight.

@Buttonstc: I didn’t read that thread today – just linked it and didn’t yet read it. I always find it fascinating, when reading through old threads, to see the members that are no longer here.

Sad, too @jca.

I Don’t have kids but I can’t imagine allowing them to get that big knowing the health & social raamifications. Sad.

We’re all going to be paying for those kids down the road, in the form of higher insurance premiums, when the kids develop diabetes, high cholesterol, heart problems, etc.