Do you agree or disagree?? 200+ pound 8 year old sent to foster care

Found this article and I was curious to see how my fellow OH'ers would react. Here is the article:
http://www.newsoxy.com/health/ohio-third-grader-foster-care-39781.html

In a nutshell, the 200+lb 3rd grade 8 year old was put into foster care because case workers did not feel his mother was doing enough to control his weight, I believe the basis is medical neglect.

Do you feel parents should do more to prevent morbid obesity in children? Can a parent control a child's food intake? Did the state do the right thing in your opinion?

Friends, weigh in!!

I was in 3rd grade with my cousin and I remember we got weighed at school and he was 180something or 190something pounds and he was twice my weight or more. He was always big and his mom used food to comfort him and shut him up. She did it with all of her kids. He's 500+ pounds now. I'm not too far behind and my mom didn't do that stuff and I was normal until my late teens. Anyway, I don't think that he should have been taken away from her because of it. Not at all. BUT when I see the talk shows where the 2 year olds are over 100 pounds, I think that's extreme. Yes, parents can control their children's food intake. Yes, they SHOULD. I, however, think there are children in much worse situations that need to be taken out of their homes first. It's hard to say what's right and what's wrong without seeing the whole situation with the child.

 This is soooo MESSED up!  Granted - the mother has alot of input here .. and probably hasnt been taught herself how to "eat right" - but to take away her child1?!?! Do they honestly think this will help1?!? I can tell you , in my opinion of course, this is only going to make the situation MUCH worse!  The child is going to go into a SERIOUS state of depression - and what do 99% of us overweight people do when we are depressed??!?!? EAT!!! even if it means we have to sneak food - or the means to get food - we find a way!  This child is now in a severe traumatic situation and the case workers should be FIRED!  KARMA is a ***** Department of Children and Family Services for Ohio!!! and someday she will kick you when you are down.. 
What they SHOULD have done is gotten both mother AND child HELP with nutritian and exercise etc - teach them the right way of eating and then follow up - like with a gym membership etc.!  Make it affordable (ie - financial assistance if necessary) and FUN for the kid!  Find a private fitness instructor with training in pediatric fitness!  There are tons of options here - but alas they just passed judgement and made the situation much worse for both the child and the mother!  

I try hard to limit the amount of the food that my 9 yr old eats. I do what I can but can not monitor him 24/7 or when he is not with me. But it seems that he constantly eats that being said he is 95lbs not 200+. However, I do believe that CPS has not right to get int that. I think they should go get kids that are being molested or physically abused instead of using already stretched resources on this.
When I used to teach I had a student she was about 16, she was super morbidly obese. The state LA had entertained the idea of removing her from the custody of her mother when she was like 8. She and the mom even appeared on The Oprah Show.Anyhow she had received the RNY, she did not change her eating habits and was over 300lbs again.. I know she is a teen and more capable of making her own decisions.
 So I guess I can see how the state can fault a parent for what a child eats. Yet I bet they never offered money for healthy food or  a gym membership. Just my 2 cents.
Andrea

By being an overweight child myself and I have an 8 year old who is overweight I completely agree! This woman had a year to help her son and is putting him in danger. I talk to my son's doctor on a regular basis about my son's weight but he is not concerned due to his activity level (he is in sports constantly and can out run some of his lighter weight friends too).

I am at a lost for words right now---me and my husband both agree that if we let our son get to 200 lbs that someone should step in.

Unless there is some type of medical condition, can you imagine what his caloric intake is and ammount of in-activity?

I know this can be a sensitive subject but can you imagine the type of future this child will have as he grows up?

And what bother's me most is that the mother seems like it is no big deal. All of us are here to get a grasp on our weight and I am pretty sure many of us want to prevent the same thing from happening to our children.

I do have to say, this is why that show "Extreme Couponing" makes me sick. The families get these massive quantities of pre-packaged, carby, sugary, preservative laden franken foods, stashes of hundreds of bars of candy..and when you see the family even the kids are morbidly obese..its like no friggin wonder with a garage full of crap.

Good point!

If she was under-feeding her son, and he was severly underweight, we would have no problem calling that neglect and agreeing he should be taken from a dangerous situation.  Why is overfeeding your child to the point of 200 lbs somehow different?

Yes, I'm sure this child is depressed.  And I'm sure his weight is a major source of emotional trauma for him - and no one at his home is doing anything to help him change it.

This mother was given resources and time and chose not to use it.

Very sad case.

Well it says the mother is a teacher and working on some other degree so it sounds like she's bitten off more than she can chew. Doesn't seem to have the time to put into this and her son suffers for it. Maybe she should cut back on her education and spend a year or two working with her son. Sounds like she has a rather cavalier attitude. I hate to see a child removed from their home but sounds like it may be the best for him in the long run. Geez my grand children were physically and emotionally abuse their whole life and CPS didn't do squat. They said feeding them candy bars and chips was fine as long as they ate!?! Guess it depends on where you live!

I haven't been able to get to the details of this case but it strikes home for me. My 11 year old niece is 225 lbs. She definitely has issues with food, as do her SMO parents. They all need counseling. The resources they need may not be available in the town where they live; they would probably have to travel 25-50 miles each way to get them. I'm not saying that's an excuse, I'm just saying. If she had a short or crooked leg they would make the necessary sacrifices to get her the necessary care.

But the idea of her being removed from her home makes my blood run cold, and I can say that she would be removed from her home over my father's dead body. Overeating is an emotional disorder. How in the name of God can taking a child from his/her home and putting them with strangers, or in an overcrowded juvenile facility with juvenile criminals, going to address those needs? Is the state really ready to bear the expense of counseling for the child, parent and extended family? What foster parents and support system were put into place before this child was removed? My personal opinion was that the mother and social worker butted heads and the social worker took it out on the kid. Like I said, I haven't read the whole story, and I may very well be wrong. But that's how it sounds to me.