Should parents lose custody of obese children?

[cigsandcoffee]

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/13/should-parents-lose-custody-of-obese-children/?hpt=hp_bn6

Researchers from Harvard University say inadequate or unskilled parental supervision can leave severely obese children vulnerable to the societal influences that promote an unhealthy lifestyle and are suggesting that this may be a form of child abuse that authorities should act on.

In a commentary posted Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, professor Lindsey Murtagh and Dr. David S. Ludwig suggest that severely obese children be removed from their homes, and that government involvement may be justifiable because of the imminent health risks and the “parents’ chronic failure to address medical problems.”

“I can see the authors have good intentions – they want to protect the child – but the suggestions are misguided,” said ethicist Arthur Caplan in a phone conversation. “The problem with this proposal is that it puts the onus solely on the parents. This is not a problem just with individuals, this is a societal issue,” he says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the past 20 years, obesity has risen dramatically in the United States.

(More at link)

That seems a bit extreme.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. no.

That is a seriously stupid idea.

[cigsandcoffee]

2. I agree. And it would affect minority families at a greater rate. n/t

[shraby]

3. This is one of the most odious suggestions I've ever heard.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I represent parents whose children are taken away by Child Protection.

Families that have obese children should be offered social services, not removal of those children. The family itself may need nutritional education, Food Stamps, medical remediation. To take away these children IMO would be punishing some families for having limited options due to poverty. A lot of families don't have access to supermarkets in the inner city where they can get fresh fruits and vegetables, assuming they can afford the purchase. I used to teach children who went home to dinners consisting of chips and Dr. Pepper. Should those children have been put in foster care?

[get the red out]

7. Excellent ideas

Families in these cases need assistance and education, not to be broken apart.

[KittyWampus]

10. Social Services and HEALTHY FOOD. I hate food stamps and wish the government gave out rations

of basic whole foods to famiy's in need.

[JHB]

5. I have a much better idea: ensure better access to health care...

...better access to decent food, more time to cook and eat properly (that whole "slow food" thing),
better access to nutritional information, and just basically improving peoples' living conditions.

Then we can talk about extraordinary cases of neglect, though I think that will manifest in other ways that will be more traditionally actionable than mere obesity.

[sarge43]

6. OK, let's walk this dog.

1. If these children are removed from their home, who will care for them? Foster parents? Are these fosters able to insure the children lose weight or at least not gain any more? Bring back de facto orphanages - state run?

2. Are these children permanently wards of state? Because if their parents are the sole reason for their obesity, wouldn't returning them to their homes merely start the cycle again?

3. Fun fact: One out of four American children go to bed hungry. Obviously, that's all their parent's fault.

Mr Caplan is right. That parents have absolute control over their children's environment is a pernicious myth. This society might take some responsibility instead of playing the Repub card "It's always someone else's fault".

[ladjf]

8. Almost everything is wrong with this idea. In the first place, the

idea that an otherwise normal child could be involuntarily removed from the custody of his/her biological parents, breaking up the family , perhaps permanently is totally unwise, not to mention cruel and unconstitutional.

[KittyWampus]

9. No, but they should be given the resources and knowledge to help change course.