This Is Just Wrong…
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cuyahoga CountyDept. of Children and Family Services has removed an 8-year old boy from his home and placed him in foster care.
The reason? Obesity.
At more than 200 pounds, the third-grader is considered severely obese and at risk for developing such diseases as diabetes and hypertension.
…Lawyers for the mother, a substitute elementary school teacher who is also taking vocational school classes, think the county has overreached in this case by arguing that medical conditions the boy is at risk for — but doesn’t yet have — pose an imminent danger to his health.
They question whether the emotional impact of being yanked from his family, school and friends was also considered.
“I think we would concede that some intervention is appropriate,” Juvenile Public Defender Sam Amata said. “But what risk became imminent? When did it become an immediate problem?”
Children are ordinarily removed from their homes for physical abuse, neglect or undernourishment.
Amata said that in his decades as a public defender, he has seen children left in homes with parents who have severe drug problems or who have beaten their children, with the reasoning that there isn’t an immediate danger to the child.
In this case, Amata said, other than having a weight problem, the boy was a normal elementary school student who was on the honor roll and participated in school activities.
Records show the child’s only current medical problem, sleep apnea, is being treated and that he wears a machine nightly that helps and monitors his breathing.
Yes, the boy has a problem – a potentially serious one in the long-term. But is this the solution? His mother certainly doesn’t appear to be indifferent or neglectful, and seems to have made an effort to help her son lose weight. Beyond that, there is precisely zero assurance that he’ll do better in foster care. In short, it’s a gamble… there will need to be radical improvement for this move to be even remotely justifiable.
The money being spent on foster services would be better spent on additional help for the boy and his family. It’s unconscionable that the county acted in the absence of a clear policy and professional medical consensus that it was necessary.
November 29, 2011
I really can’t agree with their thinking on this. I also can see there is a problem at 200 pounds in the third grade, but remove him from the home?
I see in the article, they have been trying intervention and education for over a year. It would seem like the boy should have lost some substantial weight in that length of time.
As stated, the Mother and Father are both overwieght, leading me to think the dietary choice’s being made are not the best.
I agree there is a problem. I just don’t like their solution.