Fernando Botero - A Family
Attention all parents of obese children, this is your wake-up call.
In the very near future, the government will:
- Hold you responsible for your child’s obesity
- Classify childhood obesity as a form of parental neglect
- Require doctors to notify child protection services when they see a case of extreme childhood obesity
- Legislate mandatory weight loss programs for obese children, and
- Remove children from the custody of parents who repeatedly fail to address their child’s dietary problems.
And for those of you who think that this would never happen:
In February of 2007, a judge in New York state took a child away from her parents due to her their refusal to address her obesity. She was placed into foster care.
A similar case occurred in Iowa in 1992.
Courts in several other states (California, Iowa, Indiana, New Mexico and Texas) have also recognized morbid obesity as an actionable issue.
And in today’s news…
Australia’s child obesity specialist, Dr. Shirley Alexander, said that “in extreme cases parents should lose custody if they repeatedly fail to address their dietary problems“. pdf
“Passive acquiescence by a doctor in the neglect of a severely obese child … could constitute a breach of a doctor’s duty of care,” Dr Alexander and three colleagues wrote in an article in Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr. Alexander went on to say:
Model: Eric Cartman
“In a sufficiently extreme case, notification to child protection services may be an appropriate professional response.
“Obesity has a significant adverse effect on a child’s well being, (with) both immediate and long-term medical and psycho-social health problems.”
And it gets even juicier:
Melbourne child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said child protection authorities should be notified because leaving children to become obese was, in his view, “a form of child abuse“. pdf
“Given the sociological and psychological consequences of that form of obesity, I don’t actually have a problem with that (taking children from parents) because in some instances we are condemning some children to a life of health problems . . . basically an early death.”
Mr Carr-Gregg said taking children from their parents should only be done in extreme cases.
“We are talking here about what psychologists and medical people call morbid obesity. This is the threshold where this sort of thing should kick in, that’s not unreasonable,” he said.
Surprisingly, Children’s Welfare Agency chief Andrew McCallum disagrees. He says removing obese children from their parents is a ridiculous idea.
“We don’t need more reasons to bring more children into care in New South Wales or in Australia for that matter,” Mr McCallum said.
What we do need is:
- A government that sees the benefits of preventing disease and promoting health
- A government willing to spend money on physical fitness programs – not just education…actual physical activity
- A government willing to put the nation’s health ahead of the wants of the major agricultural lobby groups – corn, wheat, etc…
- A government willing to fund new research into obesity instead of throwing additional money at the geniuses behind the Food Pyramid
- A government able to see that mental health and physical health influence each other…for the good and for the bad
- A government with the guts to step up and say that over the past 30 years, our collective Western lifestyle has turned us into a bunch of fat, lazy, diabetic, anti-depressant popping, fiscally bankrupt drug addicts (pharmaceuticals and recreational).
Or, we can just sit back, eat another Big Mac and let the state raise our kids.
Whatever.
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References
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I’m with Andrew McCallum – and agree completely with your ‘What we need to do is’….list.
I don’t agree with removing children from their homes for this reason.
Every case is different, as is every child and the circumstances behind their weight problem.
It isn’t always neglect.
It’s not a simple problem is it?
While I was writing this post, the pro-health / pro-child side of me was at war with the pro-liberty/anti-big gov’t side of me.
And, to be honest, I am not sure which side won.
And the debate goes on in today’s news. In both Australia and the UK, this topic is all over the media. As well, members of gov’t are expressing all sorts of indignation and concern. Must be time for an election
I don’t the majority of parents ever intentionally subject their child to a life of obesity and health problems. The fact that they do might mean they make bad choices, but do not mean they are bad parents.
I think government support in the battle against obesity is a must. But most of the time the government only gives lip service to support health programs or give money to programs that fuzzy up the solution even more. The food lobbies is too strong in the US.
I can agree with both sides of the argument to some extent. I think that children’s health (more often than not) has to come down to the parents. I mean how can a young kid have so much control over what they consume daily? And is it their fault if they are not given many chances to maintain regular exercise?
Parents must be blamed in most cases, however this may not be a case of neglect or abuse. Maybe the parents aren’t educated on nutrition? I think that child care authorities will be up to their eyeballs if all obese children are reported!
I can’t agree on just one side to this; yes it’s bad and something needs to be done about it, but it can’t always be the fault of parents, can it? By the way I am young and do not have any children so am not biast.
Its not abuse.
I am a 14yr old fat kid (I way 158kg and 145cm tall).
The only people who abuse me are people at school who teese me about my wayt