Should parents lose custody of super-obese kids?

a better thing to ask is "should gov'ts that allow their people to be fed GMOs, pesticides & 'fast' foods" be allowed to continue in the facade of "options"? the food supply is poisoned & we're blaming the parents? how about we abolish Monsanto the corporation.

There is another topic, "How industrial farming destroyed the tasty tomato". It is getting little attention, but it is relevant to this discussion. We don't know what is making us fat, and efforts are made to keep it that way. The food we buy is not the food we want, or think we are getting. Not only are "healthy" vegetables expensive; they are also tasteless crap. I'm sixty-one, and remember good food. I remember aisles in the supermarket that were stocked with the items needed to cook a nutritious meal, and not pre-packaged sugar and starch. Fat was used extensively, but obesity wasn't a problem. Diabetes was a footnote in health until the food industry became corporate America. We can only buy what is offered, and if corporate farming is allowed to push out family farms, local produce will be a thing of the past, and it is nearly so now. I remember the blue stamps that told me the USDA had inspected a piece of meat, and determined that it was prime or choice. If they did have a stamp now, they would mostly use the "crap" stamp. Obesity is a crisis, but let's solve the problem, not the symptom. Life style is certainly a contributor, but the data doesn't support it as the main culprit. Poor people feed their kids what they can afford. What they can afford is the equivalent of slow poison. I don't want the government to regulate what I eat, drink, or smoke, but I insist that I should know the dangers, and that the vendors be responsible.

The USDA, NIH, CDC, your local Congressional representative and a host of other slack-ass government agencies are inadvertently responsible for obesity in this nation because they refuse to regulate food additives, and or fast food corporations. The nastier and less healthy a food item is, the more likely the poor are living on it. But hey, let's round up the fat children and take them away from their parents...or maybe we should just get right to the point and line all those money sucking worthless poor people up and shoot them. It's got to be the parent's fault....couldn't be that poor parents have trouble buying and preparing nutritious food, what with the 3 jobs they are holding down just to keep a roof over everyone's head.

Damn idiots running this country make me sick.

instead of calling parents stupid ,let's take a look at at just a couple contradictions I 've piced up right here on current.Trust me when I tell you I research anything if I am not sure . Once apon a time fruits and veggies were good for you but wait ,there is the whole pesticide and GMO problems and nothing is labeled. So as it turns out an apple a day depending on where it is from will load you with toxins -to radiate you ..hell I changed all my light bulbs way back when (less power good for the enviroment) but wait sorry about that . It will cause breast cancer and God knows what else.I could name more but my point is made.

No....should we take kids away from smokers? Should we take kids away from drinkers?....lookout fatties...you may be next after 'the gays' have lost some of their 'heat'. Why do we always have to have someone to demonize?

Sure. But first lets make all the fat food companies stop advertising to children. Second, place all the fatty foods in back of the counter like they do cigarettes. Third require an ID to buy junk food, Fourth, require health warnings on all food exceeding a certain fat content, etc, etc, etc.

The point is, if the problem is so bad they want to hold parents responsible for what their kids eat, then we should also hold the people who sell them crap, responsible. Naturally that will never be considered because the corporate world of profit is sacrosanct.

So hell, go after the parents even though they have almost zero control of what a kid eats by the time they're 14. What nonsense.

Perhaps the number one problem in this world is any idiot can have kids. And the dumber they are usually the more kids they have and the kids are usually as if not more dumb than the stupid parents. What do you do about this? Nothing that will be popular thats for sure...

Thank you for the information. Waiting for new info.

Wow, so many Great Responses.!

I've been thinking about this idea of taxing the food industry with not providing enough health information to their consumers, and make then provide more details into ingredients(seriously what the freak is a Phenylalanine), and also have then give proper serving sizes.

yes they should... just as soon as food is regulated, fillers, sodium, and sugars regulated, along with the steroids we feed our animals and then consume. as soon as it becomes illegal for a child to put a dollar into a machine and pull out a piece of fried sticky dough covered in sugar, then you can start punishing parents...

this is sick... these food industries and health and health insurance industries conspire against us to make us fat, unhealthy, sick... addicted to the chemicals and sugars and fats in our foods, addicted to pills, addicted to seeking unaffordable healthcare as a result...
then the idea is even raised of taking away children who are a victim of this deliberate plot against us?
wow... really... wow...

I wouldn't be surprised if the health insurance industry was behind this

My cousin was skinny until he went to college. Then he got fat. He went to grad school and got fatter. He met a fat woman, they married and they got even fatter together. They hired a cook to come into the house and prepare healthy meals. They got fatter. We think they ate the cook. Unfortunately, they have a kid who is becoming a porker from following the parents eating habits. He won't listen to his brother who is a doctor.

We are regaled in stories of their latest seven course, fine dining adventure. These two people are on their way to a critical health event that will redefine their life. Hopefully one won't die or be permanently disabled by the event. Hopefully one survives and they both get the message. I enjoy dining at great restaurants. But I often skip appetizers and almost never eat dessert.

Absolutely not. Children are in much more danger with CPS. Similarly to separation of Government and Church, I call for separation of Government and Family!

We don't need the government going into homes telling parents how to raise their kids. What about bulimic kids? Anorexic kids? Other potentially uhealthful personal habits? I'm sorry Mr and Mrs Smith. We're placing your kid in foster care. He/She had four cavities at the last dental checkup.

The bottom line is that, regardless of your genetics, shit like this just did not happen 40+ years ago. Thus, this *is* a parenting issue.

To get type 2 diabetes and morbid obesity as a child, you have to be doing something *seriously* wrong, because children can eat tons of nasty food without much consequence.

People who are against this probably aren't considering how extreme these circumstances are. If your child is 300 or 400 pounds, there is no excuse for that. The child has a serious medical problem and it is being ignored.

With both parents working it's hard to control what your kids eat.

Why are we so extreme in our solutions to everyday problems more vegetables more activity, more education , done. who needs the state for that?

hows about gym

they should feed them to the poor kids

That's a hefty grocery bill for the taxpayers.

This is ridiculous! Maybe they should learn to say NO to their kids but lose custody? I think not. I always see my step-mom give my little brother any snack/treat he wants and this could possibly lead to obesity. But I think this is simply her like many other parents spoiling their children and just trying to make them happy (and of course shut them up).

Many fat kids have a thyroid, and it appears healthy, pumps plenty of hormones BUT the hormones are for the wrong parent's chemistry to match the child's. I used to get out and run all day long, ride my bike, play football to exhaustion, repeatedly, and yet I gained weight.

When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs? When do American doctors do their jobs?

I'm with Bailey78 below => this is another moneymaker haymaker.

I have purchased Chickweed which is supposed to melt Fat. I have purchased Cayenne that is supposed to melt Fat. I have purchased Spirulina that is supposed to melt Fat. I have mixed them all together and loaded them into some HEAT FIREBALL capsules and taken 8-12 every day. My waistline fat heats up as if set on fire, for several hours actually.

I lost 1 pound yesterday.

The only solution to fat is to pull out the door stops (doctors) and ram the gas pedal down with a sharp scalpel and get rid of it, for the simple reason the fat becomes a BENIGN TUMOR THAT IS ALSO A TRIPLE GLAND.

#1 => YOU CAN'T DIET AWAY A TUMOR.

#2 => You have fat that morphs into being a gland producing Cortisol and C-RP, which is deadly if you try to diet it off anywhere but in a hospital bed where they check your bloodstream level of C-RP EVERY TWO HOURS, because if the C-RP concentration in the blood goes too high it can STOP THE HEART INSTANTLY.

Threatening the parents, threatening the poor child, only raises the entire family's cortisol production to astronomical levels and that triggers more fat production IN BOTH THE PARENTS AND THE CHILD.

SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL SCALPEL THE ONLY SOLUTION TO A RUNAWAY GLAND (DOUBLE GLAND) AND A TUMOR.

NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS; NOT DIETS.

NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS. NOT PLAYING OUTDOORS.

SCALPEL THE ONLY SOLUTION TO A RUNAWAY GLAND (DOUBLE GLAND) & A TUMOR.

Should children be taken away from parents if they live too close to high white noise traffic areas like airports and highways thought to trigger autism? Should children be taken away from their parents if they decide to circumcise them? "No of course not Emperor circumcision is all in good, silly religious fun!" What about if they decide to perform female circumcision? What's the difference? You're still dissecting your newborn.

What if the baby has hypothyroidism? The "if then what" questions could be asked all day, don't burden understaffed organizations trying to help REAL abused children from getting help is what I say. If we want to go ahead and repo 65% of America's babies because they're tubby then count my taxdollars out.

Slippery slope.

kids shouldnt be taken away from their parents because they are being fed. there are far more serious cases of child abuse that should be given attention. mothers smothering then throwing their children in rivers are the ones we need to worry about. you cant control what they eat when they are at a friends house or at school. you can only instill knowledge and hope they use it. besides most kids have growth spurts that can bring them back into normal weight for their size.

really? parents have 'no control' over marketing and advertising? because i'm pretty sure if a kid lives in it's parents house, the parent has the right and obligation to say 'shut the fuckin' TV off, go outside' and i'm pretty sure the reason these kids have the money to spend at McDonalds and everywhere else to buy whatever they are buying, is because their parents are giving them that money.

parenting is not about shifting the blame 100% onto outside influences if your kid is unhealthy, overweight, a jerk of a kid, a bully or anything else.

take control of your children, be involved, get on their case. that's what parents are for. when the kid grows up, they'll understand.

What?? Foster care? Is that a joke...pls tell me so. How about stopping the big crappy food chains from selling & advertising their crappy food. Demand that they act on their social responsibility for the common good. The big dogs

Bring local gardens to more schools and urban areas and stop opening fast food chains on every damn corner thus not giving poorer neighborhoods in this country a CHOICE or access to healthier foods. Work to remove pesticides from our food and bring us affordable organic food. And institute more programs in inner cities and other areas to make information available to parents on healthy guidelines for their children. Of course there are parents who also feed these foods to their children one, because they work and it is convenient, two because of relentless advertising aimed at children during shows they watch on tv and three, because it is cheap. And face it, pressure from children most often wins out, even when it shouldn't. Parents do bear part of the responsibility for how they raise their children, but government also cannot expect to tell parents how to feed them if it is the same government actually supporting companies like Monsanto whose pesticide foods actually bring it on. Perhaps if this government didn't spend so much on war and used that money to revise their food and environmental policies we just might see more healthier children and adults.

No, parents shouldn't lose their kids because the kids are fat. I see a trend in my town that many low-income families have big kids and/or parents. Food costs a lot. Fast food, not so much. It's a hell of a lot easier to buy a big burger than to buy food from the grocery store. Food stamp restrictions are also a hindrance for people trying to provide food for their families or themselves.

Healthier food tends to be more expensive too. Food education is also important, but there are too many differing opinions on how much we should eat or drink and what we should eat or drink. The parents are the only ones that should be blamed.

And once again, it's Ash's personal story time. Read or don't, doesn't matter to me. I like sharing.

I hit puberty early. At the same time, I quit karate and turned to eating as a comfort. Personal problems just led me to eat more and exercise a lot less. I wasn't really bullied as much since I was an all-around nice girl. Hell, I was made fun of for being Black a lot more times than being fat.

To this day, whenever I mention how much I weigh, no one believes me. I 'carry it well' as most would say. Doesn't really hurt that my tits are big. I'm in the category of "obese" or "morbidly obese" depending on the doctors. I'm grateful that I'm able to move without a use of a cane or scooter.

It took me years to find out that I have an overeating disorder. I feel so embarrassed about it honestly. I would eat when I'm hungry, mad, sad, happy, bored, or neutral. I would always be full, but I could still feel hungry. Having a horrible self-image problem doesn't help things either.

I don't like being fat. It's hard to find clothes that fit and when I do they cost an arm and a leg. I can't find a bra in a 'normal' store, I have to find them online since the nearest big girl store is 40 minutes away from my house. I don't have a car, so...yeah, problem. I hate being known as the 'fat friend' when I go out with my girlfriends. I hate that the only physical compliments from friends or strangers I receive are either for my smile or my tits.

I'm taking steps to lose weight though. I'm going to an athletic club every other day, I bike or walk to work, I'm trying my best to stop drinking soda, and eating correctly. It's hard, it's very hard, but I know that I can do this. My adoring boyfriend is being ultra supportive and my friends are too.

No. Education not separation.

I have 1 clinically obese child out of three (by any one s normal standards he would be considered chubby) .It has nothing to do with fast food we don't eat it . Now not everything we eat is organic but ice cream is still a treat not the norm . He is not picked on . The only problem I see is he unlike his brothers prefer computers and video games . He doesn't do sports if he did he might get picked on . I would be beyond angry if some person decided he was obese and came to take him .There is the problem with this concept . By the guide lines described above I would never have to worry about it but who makes the judgement call on who is obese enough . Then there is that little well as long as some paper some where says a child is obese he/she could be removed . Would we then have to start fearing a doctor scale because of an over zealous or self righteous case worker some where . This is a very slippery slope . Any one who thinks this is a good idea might want to ask themselves who decides . Because any real parent will tell you the person who rocks your kids craddle rules your world.

NO. In addition to all the other external factors that have been listed there are still several mor to consider:

1. Unhealthy food is cheaper and easier to get.

2. Many of these children use food to "self -medicate" to them food offers
comfort.

3. Dispite the governments best efforts many people still do not know how to eat
healthy.

4. Many urban areas are "fresh food deserts." I live in Detroit and it is impossible
to get a major grocery chain to locate within the city. Those who have cars go
to the suburbs to shop where their is a larger selection. Those who lack
transportation shop at smaller local grocery stores with limited selection and
higher prices on heathy food.

5. Many of the parks and recreation centers are either in disrepair or closed due
to budget cuts. Also many sport and fitness activities have also been lost due
to budget cuts.

6. There is usually a family history of obesity.

I think that the worry about our children is well founded but I don't think taking children away from their parents is going to solve the problem. If we want to adress this problem we need to adress all of the contributing factors and become a healthier nation as a whole. Just out of curiosity I wonder how many people who contributed to these studies are obese?

Should parents lose custody of super-obese kids?
NO! parents should go to classes to learn how to feed their kids properly, And exercise, make exercise fun.

Good post!

Here in New Jersey government intervention would be the height of hypocrisy, just use "can't walk 100 yards" Christy as the poster boy. Until you get rid of all the external causes such as the fast food industry, the use of huge amount of sugar and corn "sweetener", added fats, etc, you will have an uphill battle. In addition, there is research ( done mainly in the UK ) that there is a genetic predisposition towards obesity that is showing up more often. When you also consider that the environment the kids have to live in makes healthy eating difficult, taking them away and then bringing them back will not help as they will only revert to their former behavior. Put some of the onus on the corporations that profit from fast food and snacks and then maybe a change can be made. When you cure an alcohol abuser, you won't succeed if you let them go back to the bar after the process is complete. This is much the same.

Yes.

Parents should lose custody of super-obese kids. Parents should also lose one of their feet (each parent, even if divorced), should that happen, and have a large, red, "OK" (for: Obese Kid) tattooed to their foreheads. Matter of fact, that should be the penalty for any parent whose child becomes super obese, gay (a "GK" for Gay Kid tattooed on the parents' foreheads), and especially left handed ("Lefty" tattooed on the parents' foreheads). Allowing their child to be left handed is probably the worst offense a parent can make in raising a child. There is no excuse for that one, and it should come with extra penalties.

This comment has been facetious up to now, but with zero calories, and no carbohydrates.

While obesity is certainly a situation which needs attention, I disagree that a family should be separated should a child become obese.

I am sick to my stomach thinking about taking children away from their parents because they're fat! I am ashamed of those of you who advocate this. This is fascism.

Hell, while were at it lets take away any kid who doesn't eat their vegetables or wear a helmet while riding a bike or skateboarding.

Obiesity is an epidemic, but lets not kid ourselves (pun intended) into thinking that a "war on obiesity" is the best way to handle the situation.

What a ridiculous idea, just like bringing the draft back, you won't win votes against the voters.

Every school should have a health expert on hand, if your child is suffering from obesity he or she should be able to raise concerns as soon as they arise, than extra steps can be taken to control the issue before it gets out of control, if the state of the child worsens directly as a result of parents being neglectful after repeated warnings from the health worker and state officials and no progress is being made to correct the problem, then the state should intervene to correct the matter.

It has too be recognized this article is talking about the "Super-Obese" kids that will be suffering from serious health problems as well as the usual social issues if parents refuse to address them it is nothing more than neglect for the mental and physical condition of their children and as tax payers it is likely that you will carry the weight of the medical costs in some shape or form from complications from that neglect.

With 69 cent burgers around its easier to fatten your kid, than to starve them to death, but abuse is abuse, they are children they do not know better

These habits may follow children into adulthood, when the state no longer has the resources to help those still suffering from the habits formed when they did not know better, the earlier in life good habits are formed the more likely they will stick around.

Three year old dies from extreme obesity:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3752597.stm