Mother Charged with Felony Neglect---Her 555# Son

This may be old news for some but thought it was worthy of discussion here.  Jerri Gray from SC was charged with unlawful neglect of a child.  Her 14 year old son weighs 555# and he has been put in child protection services.  Mom is out on bail. 

The issue---should CPS be able to "interfere" in her personal life with the way she has raised her son.  CPS says the mom has neglected to follow through with help for her son.  The mom says she can't afford it. Yeah, she can't afford it NOW that he is 14 and weighs 555#. 

Lets hear what your thoughts are on this.

I don't know if she should be charged with felony neglect but I do feel she is at least largely responsible for her son's weight problem.  Mom is the one that goes and buys the food at the grocery store that is in the house for the son to eat, even if she does work 2nd or 3rd shift.  Children do what they are taught to do and she obviously has not used good judgement in feeding her son from the get go or teaching him anything about healthy eating. 

This poor young boy was MO long before age 14.  Think of the ridicule and awlful things that he has faced in his school.  

She says she couldn't afford to get him help, but think of all the money she spent on all the food he was consuming.  Doesn't make sense to me.  
 

That is really sad.  My biggest fear is that my baby will end up heavy.  I can't imagine a mother doing that to her child.

At 14, I was doing alot of things that my mother had no knowledge of much less was in control of or responsible for. Trust me, she'd had a fit if she knew I was well over a pack a day smoker by then and had already made up my mind on which alcoholoic beverages I preferred.

The schools require physicals and immunizations to be done on children as they grow up. If someone were at fault...I would say it was the medical facility who did these on this child. As you said, he was MO long before he reached the age of 14. As soon as he was going toward 'obese', why weren't the child and his mother counseled on healthy eating and exercise? And when the child FIRST hit morbid obesity, why didn't the physician's office call CPS THEN? I'm not saying the mom isn't responsible at all...I'm just saying that there had to have been medical personel to have seen this child and did nothing...and now, CPS is going to put the entire blame on the mother? I think the mother and child both need to go to therapy for eating disorders and to a dietician. She probably also needs some healthy cooking classes. But whatever doctor/nurse saw him and did his physicals & shots? They need a huge slap on the hand so they will learn to be more responsible for their patients.

But...the governement doesn't ask me for my opinions...

Sherri

I can't help but be stuck on what this poor child must be going through.  I am certain that he loves his mother very much and has now been pulled from her for being obese.  I am also certain that this child has been made to feel awful about himself by his peers over the years.  What could be going on in his head right now as he sits somewhere missing his mother and wanting to be home, it sickens me.  I have a son close to his age and they are full of hormones and emotions, life is hard for them to understand as they are stuck between being a kid and an adult and figuring out what their roll is...sad sad sad.

I will not condone the choices this mother has made, however she may have not been paying "cash" for the food that was consumed in her home, perhaps she used food stamps.  Therefore the argument of spending "all that money on food" is mute.  It's very hard to stretch your budget on healthy foods, we all have found that out.  For us it has become a priority to eat healthy and we have found a way, others are not there yet, let us not forget where we came from.  I hope this family finds the strength and faith it needs to overcome what they are facing today and that this young boy will grow to be a proud young man.  I am so sorry for this mother and child.

Jeannie

This is such a hard subject. I mean, on one hand, how much do we want the govt to dictate what we have to do with our kids? I am Catholic. We let grade schoolers take wine in Communion. I'm sure some people have a problem with that. But on the other hand, you can't argue that 555lb is just a variation of weight, by any stretch of the imagination.

I know not all teens will do what their parents want, and probably many of us have done some stuff as teens that was 'unknown' to our caregivers. But when and if it threatens a child's life, as does being 555lb, someone should step in to help a family that can't take care of itself. I saw this happen with a friend whose teen daughter was dangerously self-injuring, and she couldn't get her under control. Just my humble opinion.

I agree that intervention is needed.  I just pray that the way it is handled allows this child his dignity. 

Jeannie