The woman's weight is irrelevant, even though mentioned in the story. 23 stone is a bit more than 300 pounds (1 stone = 14 pounds). That's obese, but many people weigh that and more, and don't have their kids taken.

The problem is that some of her kids are also obese. The social workers are worried that the kids are malnourished. Malnourished means *badly* nourished, not necessarily under-nourished. Overfeeding kids, or giving them the wrong types of food, is harmful to them.

Turn it around. If some parent had a child that was seriously underweight (and if the parent had enough money to pay for food), wouldn't it be reasonable to take the kid away? The parent isn't feeding the kid properly. Either it's not enough food, or it's not the right kind, and the kid is at risk of becoming ill from being undernourished.

Well, if a kid is being overnourished, the same reasoning applies. Too much food can lead to severe illness, just as can starvation. If a parent is not feeding a child properly, then it may be necessary to take the kid away. If a parent has *already* demonstrated that she can't feed her chi8ld properly (by causi9ng the child to be badly nourished), then it is reasonable to take away any new kids.

Please delete. Unintentional double-post. Thank you.

[edit on 10/30/2009 by chiron613]

They don't even look that fat. I probably see more people who look like that in a day than "healthy" people. Then again, I live in fat America in a town full of particularly disgusting people...

I read a report that stated SIDS deaths are more likely in homes of the obease. I'll see if I can find it