County Places 200-Pound Third-Grader In Foster Care

County Places 200-Pound Third-Grader In Foster Care

www.ksee24.com

An 8-year-old Cleveland Heights boy was taken from his family and placed in foster care last month after county case workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

At more than 200 pounds, the third-grader is considered severely obese and at risk for developing such diseases as diabetes and hypertension.

But even though the state health department estimates more than 12 percent of third-graders statewide are severely o

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.ctv.ca

I'm not sure what to say. Do we side with the mom or the county on this one? The details are limited so I can't make a valid assessment.

The people who regulate these organizations have been known to take kids away in situations that were not warranted so part of me wants to automatically defend the mother.

Obesity is an epidemic and is not always due to diet. I hope the county made the right decision in this case because in my opinion this just seems wrong.

www.ksee24.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a bad thing!

Not only does the child have to deal with obesity, but now he will have the traumatic emotions of being taken from his family and placed in a foster home.

The government has no business taking kids away from their homes unless their is a serious threat to their well-being, and even then they should get other family members involved for the sake of the child.

In this case, Amata said, other than having a weight problem, the boy was a normal elementary school student who was on the honor roll and participated in school activities. Records show the child's only current medical problem, sleep apnea, is being treated and that he wears a machine nightly that helps and monitors his breathing.

The mother said that when she found out that other kids and a sibling might be giving her son extra food, she tried to put a stop to it and explain to him that he could eat only certain foods. She tried to follow the recommendations of the doctors, such as getting him a bike and encouraging him to get exercise.

Link

Why not mandated live in house dietist/observer rather than taking the kid out...

There is allways a need for jobs...

reply to post by sheepslayer247

This is a bad thing!

I agree.

There had to be better ways to deal with this problem other than take her kid away.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


If you read the link I provided, the mother took the steps to help her son and even enrolled him in a special program for situations such as this. Isn't that the same thing the government would do?

Thanks for posting this! This is just another great example of how the government thinks they know what's best and could not be any more wrong.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


I fear that this is just the beginning. This better not pave the way for more "kidnappings".

Hopefully she fights this and gets him back. Thanks for posting the link by the way.

Obesity IS life threatening. They took him away because his mother is literally killing him with food. A slow death at that. How is having a child that fat not abuse? I just don't see how it's Ok to let this happen to a child. He NEEDED to be taken away and put some where, a place he can get help for the terrible situation HIS MOTHER put him in. The county did what was right, saved a child for certain death.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Im about 200 pounds. And Im 22 years old.

Im thinking this is going to go to the county.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Sorry, but I'd say being a 300 pound 9 year old is a "serious threat to his well-being."

this case is merely a test by the social workers to see if they can boost their numbers....

each child kidnapped is worth 3500 plus to the county....

the article stated that their are 1380 who qualify in the county for this gold mine...
(3500 times 1380)
4830000 time 70% equals 3381000

for the county cps's own pocket....

that is three million three hundred and eighty one thousand dollars.... for a seventy percent success rate...

judges that rubber stamp it...

A two year minimum legal fight--- mandatory classes.... about 200 a pop

1380 times 200 equals an additional 276000


they know what they are doing after all it is to protect the little children... weight for it...

cleaveland .com from the op's link

"I think we would concede that some intervention is appropriate," Juvenile Public Defender Sam Amata said. "But what risk became imminent? When did it become an immediate problem?"

Children are ordinarily removed from their homes for physical abuse, neglect or undernourishment.

Amata said that in his decades as a public defender, he has seen children left in homes with parents who have severe drug problems or who have beaten their children, with the reasoning that there isn't an immediate danger to the child.

where is the immediate danger required by law...

This is a test case to see if they can get more money out of the governments for taking more children.... it is about the Benjamen's

reply to post by Corruption Exposed

Look out everybody it's the Fat Police

an average 3rd grader is 4'2" imagine 200lbs on that frame. I think a picture of this child would sway a few folks opinions

As usual, government doesn't know its place and overreaches its authority.

Think about it this way:

If it were a kid with a bad liver, or needing a kidney transplant, for example, the government wouldn't be coming to take the kid away to get him the operation. If the kid had a brain tumor, the government wouldn't come take him away.

Most likely the boy looks so obese that people are simply appalled when they see him and think "Something must be done!"

Sorry, but you can't save every defective person on Earth - this is counter-productive to natural selection.

reply to post by lilowl53


If they start taking kids away for being overweight they should also take kids away from people who smoke cigarettes. Second hand smoke is just as if not more harmful than an unhealthy diet. If this mother is a bad parent then yes her kids should get taken away but sheepslayer found a link portraying the mother as a fit parent. Of course it could be lies but you're just as guilty for jumping to conclusions without fully knowing the details. There is more than one side to a story.

reply to post by Hawking


His weight is a threat to his well-being. So are children in homes with parents that smoke (as CE stated), or drink too much. Should they be able to take their children away as well? When do we draw a line?

Now please enlighten me on how the government or the foster parents can do anything else for this child than the mother is doing.

She has put him on a special diet, given him the equipment to exercise and enrolled him into programs specifically designed to help this child. The doctor in charge of that program even stated that he does not know what taking the kid out of the home will do to help!

What we are seeing here is a kid in need, a mother will limited resources that is doing everything she can, and a government/citizen mindset of arrogance that thinks they know whats best for this child.

We should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our government to take children from their parents!

Originally posted by DeReK DaRkLy

As usual, government doesn't know its place and overreaches its authority.

Think about it this way:

If it were a kid with a bad liver, or needing a kidney transplant, for example, the government wouldn't be coming to take the kid away to get him the operation. If the kid had a brain tumor, the government wouldn't come take him away.

Most likely the boy looks so obese that people are simply appalled when they see him and think "Something must be done!"

Sorry, but you can't save every defective person on Earth - this is counter-productive to natural selection.

if the mother were giving her child alcohol that caused his liver problems then yes they would take the child.

The state did what was right period. You do not get that fat without help especially at that age. CPS is suppose to protect children from being abused and this child was definitely being abused. Not all abuse is cut and dry. If I fed my daughter a teaspoon of bleach a day it would slowly kill her from the inside out. There would be no arguement about if it was the right thing to do. Now this mother is feeding her kid junk obviously which is killing him from the inside out. Diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure are just some of the factors that people who are obese deal with and children are no exception.

CPS is suppose to protect children from abuse and this is abuse.

reply to post by SinDefiant

if the mother were giving her child alcohol that caused his liver problems then yes they would take the child.

Obviously.... Giving a child that much alcohol is an extreme scenario.

I was talking about examples of regular medical problems, not immoral parenting.