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Should obese children be taken away from their parents and put in foster care?

Should Obese Children Be Placed In Foster Homes?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • No

    Votes: 25 64.1%

  • It Depend (explain)

    Votes: 13 33.3%
  • Total voters
    39
Goshin said:
Define obesity. By the standards some agencies use, Arnold Swartzenegger was "obese" when he was a competition bodybuilder.
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Good point on defining obesity. That is the slippery slope you start down when you give gov power to take kids. My point was mostly theoretical; if gov can take a kid for being underfed they surly can take him for being over fed. Then there’s the child abuse thing, common punishment when I was a kid, getting the belt for instance, would be considered child abuse these days.
 
SPC said:
This is another little interesting tidbit I heard on the radio today. Some more liberal states are considering taking overweight children away from their parents, charging the parents with child abuse, and putting the children in foster care. What's your opinion?
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i make no promises for my good behavior if anyone attempts to take my children. you will be lucky if i only target you.
 
Kal'Stang said:
Going by the logic that some people use when saying that people that use foodstamps shouldn't be allowed to buy <insert bad food item here> then yes, you are correct.
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I agree with that. People who get foodstamps should not be able to buy soda, candy, icecream, potato chips, etc. It should be regulated like WIC.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
Good point on defining obesity. That is the slippery slope you start down when you give gov power to take kids. My point was mostly theoretical; if gov can take a kid for being underfed they surly can take him for being over fed. Then there’s the child abuse thing, common punishment when I was a kid, getting the belt for instance, would be considered child abuse these days.
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They need to bring back a lot more of that "child abuse" the way kids act these days. Especially the way I've seen kids act toward their parents in public lately. My parents would have busted my butt right there.
 
SPC said:
This is another little interesting tidbit I heard on the radio today. Some more liberal states are considering taking overweight children away from their parents, charging the parents with child abuse, and putting the children in foster care. What's your opinion?
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Morbid obese children is sometimes child abuse...
 
It is not the states job to raise peoples children, this smacks of the hitler youth camps. Gimme a break Parents didnt create this problem the fast food soceity we live in did, technology did, When was the last time you saw a group of kids outside in the summer playing till they fell out or it got dark.
 
in the military if you child is huge and medically obese then they how the soldier accountable and this can keep them from getting promoted or go to certain military schools. It’s a great idea and has been working for the most part in the military.
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Really under what Jurisdiction and article of the UCMJ? Not that I doubt you , But I have never heard of this in my 22 years and I have Known some sailors who had huge little Kids. never seemed to affect them! just saying.
 
I can't believe people could actually support putting kids in foster homes where they are likely to face actual abuse because of obesity. Where would one draw the line? -especially considering the rising number of obese people in this country.
 
evanescence said:
I can't believe people could actually support putting kids in foster homes where they are likely to face actual abuse because of obesity. Where would one draw the line? -especially considering the rising number of obese people in this country.
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No doubt it's a difficult thing. But if parents allow their 6-year-old to get up to 150lbs, get diabetes, and high blood pressure, is that not child abuse? There are cases that extreme. How is it any less abusive than starving your child? Kids in those kinds of situations won't live to see 40. In fact, we don't know how long they'll live because no generation has ever been so obese so young. But we do know that ADULTS who become extremely obese often don't make it to 50. I have two friends whose fathers died in their 40's from obesity. When their kids were still in middle school. How much worse is the prognosis if you become extremely obese 10 or 20 years earlier than they probably did?

I don't think anyone's suggesting we take chubby kids away from their parents. We're talking about the extreme cases.

I remember when I was 15 or 16 in Girl Scouts, this 9-year-old kid who probably weighed a lot more than I did. She was eating pizza and a slushy and begging her mom for cookies. She bought her 10 boxes. Two of them were gone before they left the table. That little girl probably has a list of health problems as long as my arm now. That's abuse in my mind.
 
Not necessarily supporting the idea in the OP, but the act of making a child does not make a person a responsible parent. In fact, all those hormones and biological hardwiring can make a person irrational and unreasonable towards their own children. The vast majority of parents are, in fact, not qualified to raise a child. We used to have extended families, clans, and communities to raise children, but now we have a culture of self-centered parents. To suggest to someone that their child isn't perfect or special is an insult to them, even though many parents raise their kids quite poorly. Most children need more intervention from their community to help raise them. If local community is incapable of doing this, I guess we need to rely on a larger one for it. Children should have dozens of role models, not just the two people who had sex to make them.
 
MistressNomad said:
No doubt it's a difficult thing. But if parents allow their 6-year-old to get up to 150lbs, get diabetes, and high blood pressure, is that not child abuse? There are cases that extreme. How is it any less abusive than starving your child? Kids in those kinds of situations won't live to see 40. In fact, we don't know how long they'll live because no generation has ever been so obese so young. But we do know that ADULTS who become extremely obese often don't make it to 50. I have two friends whose fathers died in their 40's from obesity. When their kids were still in middle school. How much worse is the prognosis if you become extremely obese 10 or 20 years earlier than they probably did?

I don't think anyone's suggesting we take chubby kids away from their parents. We're talking about the extreme cases.

I remember when I was 15 or 16 in Girl Scouts, this 9-year-old kid who probably weighed a lot more than I did. She was eating pizza and a slushy and begging her mom for cookies. She bought her 10 boxes. Two of them were gone before they left the table. That little girl probably has a list of health problems as long as my arm now. That's abuse in my mind.
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Foster care is extreme, so if the case was extreme as your example was, then yes. But only in the most extreme cases.
 
evanescence said:
I agree with that. People who get foodstamps should not be able to buy soda, candy, icecream, potato chips, etc. It should be regulated like WIC.
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You are exactly the type of person that post 22 (The Baron's post) was refering to.
 
Kal'Stang said:
You are exactly the type of person that post 22 (The Baron's post) was refering to.
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As a tax payer I get tired of seeing huge fat women with 4 kids in tow stocking up on junk food with food stamps. I think they should get rice, bean, potato and vegetable ration cards. If you want junk food GET A JOB!
 
Do you see why I advocate going back to a Constitutional form of government.
 
I said that it depends. I don't think anything as rash as taking them away would be warranted, but indeed something should be done. Interesting poll by the way.
 
There is a precedent for it, sort of. Rather than foster care, I've heard of children being taken by CPS to an obesity clinic for immediate treatment and the parents put through parenting classes and monitored when the children return. Again, I have only heard of this in extreme cases - i.e. toddlers and early elementary kids who are over 100lbs, usually with obesity-related health problems like diabetes, severe sleep apnea, etc. Things that can kill you.
 
MistressNomad said:
There is a precedent for it, sort of. Rather than foster care, I've heard of children being taken by CPS to an obesity clinic for immediate treatment and the parents put through parenting classes and monitored when the children return. Again, I have only heard of this in extreme cases - i.e. toddlers and early elementary kids who are over 100lbs, usually with obesity-related health problems like diabetes, severe sleep apnea, etc. Things that can kill you.
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That seems reasonable.
 
Though I am typically social conservative, I actually agree with this movement. Don't get me wrong; I can see both the pros and cons of this issue.

Our country, thanks to the food industry and aggressive marketing, has doped up our society. Ever since we were young the got to us... through commercials. I'd rather see those two entities dealt a serious blow, but in addition I fully support this move. Why? People need to break their habits and take responsibility for their actions. From a traditionally Christian perspective, the body is a temple for God's Spirit, and must be kept healthy in practical terms. Habits such as overeating, especially when developed at a young age, are a real *bleep* to break.

I'm an example. Though I exercise vigorously, I eat a lot of unhealthy food. Yes, it's an overwhelming feeling that turns me into a munching zombie. Though, this zombies wants nachos, lasagna, and onion rings. ...and Chinese buffet... I love my mother and bless her masterful cooking... but she's like a huge spider. You think you're pulling yourself out of the web of temptation and then WHAM, homemade coffee crumble cheesecake.

Nip it in the bud. I support.
 
Wake said:
Though I am typically social conservative, I actually agree with this movement. Don't get me wrong; I can see both the pros and cons of this issue.

Our country, thanks to the food industry and aggressive marketing, has doped up our society. Ever since we were young the got to us... through commercials. I'd rather see those two entities dealt a serious blow, but in addition I fully support this move. Why? People need to break their habits and take responsibility for their actions. From a traditionally Christian perspective, the body is a temple for God's Spirit, and must be kept healthy in practical terms. Habits such as overeating, especially when developed at a young age, are a real *bleep* to break.

I'm an example. Though I exercise vigorously, I eat a lot of unhealthy food. Yes, it's an overwhelming feeling that turns me into a munching zombie. Though, this zombies wants nachos, lasagna, and onion rings. ...and Chinese buffet... I love my mother and bless her masterful cooking... but she's like a huge spider. You think you're pulling yourself out of the web of temptation and then WHAM, homemade coffee crumble cheesecake.

Nip it in the bud. I support.
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How about let's punish the food corporations rather than the parents and children. . .
 
fat people tend to have fat kids, due to genetics and eating habits.

the ONLY time a fat kid should be taken from is parents, is when their is evidence that a child is obese not simply due to the eating habits of his family.....but when there is evidence of malice.

though..at the same time.....if a child was indeed in a harmful & dangerous situation due to his weight and his eating habits, and the family refused to change, that might be a cause for concern.

hmmm..
 
Thunder said:
fat people tend to have fat kids, due to genetics and eating habits.

the ONLY time a fat kid should be taken from is parents, is when their is evidence that a child is obese not simply due to the eating habits of his family.....but when there is evidence of malice.

though..at the same time.....if a child was indeed in a harmful & dangerous situation due to his weight and his eating habits, and the family refused to change, that might be a cause for concern.

hmmm..
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There are all kinds of reasons parents may engage in more widely recognized forms of abuse where there is no malice. A mentally ill parent may believe they are doing their child a favor by starving or beating or isolating them. There is no malice. Does that mean they aren't being abused?
 
MistressNomad said:
There are all kinds of reasons parents may engage in more widely recognized forms of abuse where there is no malice. A mentally ill parent may believe they are doing their child a favor by starving or beating or isolating them. There is no malice. Does that mean they aren't being abused?
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making food avaliable, is not child abuse. demanding the child over-eat, under penalty of no tv, no video games, being grounded, or even violence, would certainly be abuse.

but simply having a full fridge, is not abuse.
 
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