Portion sizes are much larger now than they ever were back in the day, even actual plates and cups are bigger now. In an average restaurant meal, people are eating 2 or 3 servings at one time. Add several refills of a soft drink and the calorie count is dizzying.

The obesity problem is getting worse by the minute, and offering family nutrition and even family exercise classes, teaching label reading and talking about portion control/processed foods would be a million times more helpful than simply taking a child away.

On the radio here in Las Vegas, they reported that CPS had been working with the family for a YEAR before they took the child out of the home. A YEAR people! And the medical cause? He had severe sleep apnea due to his weight. He wasn't breathing at night!!

CPS didn't just go in and say, "we think you're kid is too fat, so we're taking him out of the home." They don't work like that. This wasn't a, "we're worried about his weight 22 years from now" thing. This was a "we're worried about his medical condition RIGHT NOW" thing.

Lets give CPS a little bit more credit. They may have still overstepped their bounds, but lets not make complete judgments when we all admitt that we don't have the whole story, and we weren't seeing what those workers were seeing.

By taking the child away from his parents, more harm than good can arise. Government cannot be two-faced about childhood obesity. This is the same institution that just legislated that pizza is a vegetable. More emphasis should be placed on strengthening programs that support families with overweight kids. I disagree with find_a_cure's comments. There is no child abuse in this situation. If we were to yank every overweight kid from their parents, we would have no room at all to host them. Plus, the further strain on taxpayers to finance their welfare. Again, parenting classes, nutrition classes and other means can be used than placing a child in a traumatic situation. This was not necessary.

Ok, so alot of people were "fat kids" 15 + years ago. You have to realize that back then "fat kids" were slightly overweight. Today you have children that are, for example, 6 years old weighing 120 lbs. We live in the "fast food" age. I was at Burger King once in a popular vacation area once. I noticed that 99% of the children in there were fat

. I am not too sure about the details of the CPS stepping in and removing the child because he or she was obese. However I believe that IF the child was 50 or more pounds overweight, IF the parents were told that he had health issues that were beginning to arise, and the parents did nothing to help the child; then yes it's child abuse.

The whole thing is ridiculous - having worked with foster children (and I've been fat all my life) it is my learned opinion that the state has far greater immediate concerns to address with regard to abuse and neglect. Just my two cents as a clinical social worker, fat woman and human being with a brain;-)

Don't know the details, but it seems as if intervention is the key for the whole family rather than removal.

Speaking as a fat person who came from a fairly long line of fat people, I think the CPS went way, way over the line. Maybe there were some other issues we don't know about, but taking a kid away from the parents, for almost any reason other than immediate physical/sexual abuse is wrong.

I wonder also if there's something about the environment, combined with early obesity, that causes type II diabetes in young people. I can't think of anyone who developed type II diabetes early in life; I know some people who developed diabetes in their 40s and later. Maybe the fact that younger people seem even less active now than we were in the '60s and '70s? Maybe heavy metals in the environment? PCBs? Something else?

Such thinking would require that anyone who smokes have their child be removed from their home.

Truly, a slippery slope…

Um yeah. they crossed the line in my eyes. We need to be careful of what we support in terms of the government being involved in child rearing. We dont know EVERYTHING about this woman or her child - only what the news tells us. Based on the little info they gave, I think they may have caused more damage to the child mentally than the obesity..........

I love all of the comments! And thank you for taking the time to leave them.

I agree that intervention is warranted. I also agree that I don't know the back story here, the efforts CPS made prior to removing the boy, and the response of the parents to CPS trying to help. I don't know the boy's associated health issues, although the mild "breathing trouble" that was stated in one article seems a little lame to me. My kids breathe heavy after running or playing tag, or during the first soccer game of the season - it feels like a stretch, but again I admit that I don't know the details.

There was a fabulous discussion in the comments on the original post of this on my blog and I would any thoughts about the additional feedback given in that discussion.

My main issue with the actions taken in this case is the precedent it sets. Using the same logic that was applied here, I can think of a Million ways parents could be at risk of having their kids taken away.

Not vaccinating them puts them at risk for future health issues or even immediate ones if they contract a disease.

Smoking anywhere near another person puts them at risk for health issues (personally I don't think anyone should smoke - but I don't want the government deciding when and when not).

Not forcing kids to wear knee pads and elbow pads (24 hrs a day) put them at risk for injuring themselves.

Basically not keeping our children in a bubble puts them at risk of injury of some kind. Is it ridiculous to make that argument? Yes. But the question I have is where is the line drawn between ridiculous and reasonable?

I have to agree with the severity of his condition being beyond overweight. There comes a time when the well being of a child has to be protected. I think it's awful that there wasn't earlier intervention. This would be an uphill battle for a family who believes in and can afford a healthy diet, does this family have any hope of turning this around? I can only imagine the abuse this child has experienced by the mouths of classmates.

I don't know if I'd call childhood obesity a crime, but I do think it's a tragedy.

According to the news story, this particular child was having breathing problems that were caused by his weight. And although he had successfully following the hospital's recommended treatment plan, recently they had begun missing appointments and he had started to gain back some of the weight that he had lost.

I don't know if it warrants CPS taking the child into custody, but I think having a morbidly obese 3rd grader does mean that you are not setting healthy limits for your child. It is our jobs as parents to teach children self-discipline and moderation, she loved him so much that she was trying to cure everything with food.

That's not healthy and could be considered abuse.

At first blush, it's easy to agree with you. Until I actually looked at the article and saw the child was 218 lbs. My 8 year old son is 80 lbs and he is one of the larger kids in his class (I mean height and weight). You could take my weight and my son's weight together and still not reach 218 lbs. So this kid is beyond fat in my opinion.Did they overreach by taking him away? Probably. But would they be out of line by demanding his health be checked? No. This child is probably pre-diabetic at best. What about the conditions of his joint? What about his overall quality of life? Is he in pain from carrying too much weight? Can he walk without being out of breath? What burden has been put on his heart? These are very real, very immediate risks.

I know there are overweight adults with normal blood pressure, etc. and skinny adults with high cholesterol. But that doesn't change how unhealthy this child is. Intervening is a slippery slope, I agree. But somebody needs to say something if only to educate the parents and help them make better choices for their children.

Oh come on. Really? You think that the ONLY health problems that stem from being an obese child occur 20 years later? I call BS.

Obese children are at an IMMEDIATE risk of diabetes, heart disease and even high blood pressure. Not to mention the psychological effects of being the fat kid, which can often mean they don't get to do simple things other kids get to do - like riding a bike, running on the playground, participating in group sports and even fitting into normal sized clothes.

I'm not sure I think obesity is necessarily a reason to pull a child from an otherwise safe and healthy home, but I actually do think it is abuse. Parents get to control what goes into their children's bodies. It's that simple. Childhood obesity is a PARENTING problem. If your 3rd grader weighs 218 pounds, you are an unfit parent.

I should note that I say this as a formerly obese mom who is trying to help her partner get full custody of his daughter right now because of this exact issue. Being an obese adult is hard enough on your self-esteem! No child should be subjected to this type of neglect.

I think this case was pretty extreme. Not sure they crossed lines, but I think that all parents would probably say that the parents of the child (he was 218 pounds... as a 3rd grader that is not just FAT but MORBIDLY obese) are probably neglecting him in the fact that they are not helping him make good choices with his eating. I mean, it's not like a 3rd grader drives himself to McD's or buys the groceries for the family. I think some type of intervention should have been done, but not sure he should have been removed from his home.

Hmmm. This really got me thinking. I wish I had an answer to this question. My immediate response is that it is terrible to put a child through something like that for that reason. Perhaps it would be more appropriate if obesity was listed as A reason for CPS to intervene, not the ONLY reason? This is a tough one.

Jenna

callherhappy.com