Scytail said:
The full article can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/parents-lose-custody-super-obese-kids-200342454.html
Yes! If the parents are the problem then the child should be removed from the household. I know this would add even more problems to an already underfunded and ineffective system but this should be added in as another type of child abuse.
OT: I enjoy how both sides of the argument in the article both state that they arent blaming the parents. Instead we should blame "advertising, marketing, peer pressure and bullying." If I remember correctly from my childhood, I believe my parents bought the food and controlled what we ate.
This is an interesting question, and I don't think the answer is a simple black or white one.
First of all, the foster care system in the US isn't a sparkling example of a healthy, child-focused environment from the (former) foster children I have known and talked to. You might be doing more harm than good to these children. Instead of "removing" the children from the household, perhaps take the resources that would be given to the foster family and instead provide the original parents nutritional advice, food vouchers for healthy food, cooking lessons... basically try to improve the lot of the family and the child in the biological family environment instead of shifting the burden to a foster family or to the state.
Second of all, I think we need to take the desires of the child into consideration. Children, even young ones, might have strong opinions of who they want to live with. I know that even at age seven, I was able to clearly articulate to a court of law which one of my parents I wanted to live with when they divorced, and why. The court took this into consideration when I was placed to live with my mother and my maternal grandparents.
Third of all, on the flip side, I think that in some cases of gross negligence, the child DOES need to be removed from the environment. Some people can't take care of a dog let alone a child. I was healthy in spite of (not because of) my mother's food choices for me - she never cooked, I was left to fend for myself, and I grew up eating a lot of processed crap as a result of this. I learned how to cook healthy foods in my early teens and this went a long way to helping ensure that I never had problems with food or became obese myself. Some children and teenagers, though, probably don't have the ability or access to healthy food that I did when I was growing up.
My mother couldn't take care of her dog, though - seriously, she endangered the life of every pet she owned by throwing food and "treats" at it. I don't understand people with overweight pets - at all. They're pets. They eat what you put in a bowl in front of them. Period. Most pets don't have access to outside food choices and giving in to a begging obese dog because you don't like hearing it whine is just cruel. My mother's "hopelessly overweight" chocolate purebred lab, a sweet, sweet dog, slimmed down to a normal, healthy weight within 2 months of me owning her. I simply stopped feeding the dog treats and put it on a vet approved diet, the dog eats what I feed it, twice a day, with no variation in between.
For children and/or pets with thyroid problems or other concerns, they should be seen by a competent doctor or vet; failure to do this is not providing basic medical care for a dependent that can't provide it for themselves; and this is abusive.
To end all of this, I personally believe that people should need a license to breed/have children in the first place, because while many people are completely capable of being excellent parents, some parents have absolutely NO business raising children due to lack of basic education, social skills, knowledge of nutrition, etc. - if you lack these things, how do you expect to impart them to a child?
So, lots going on with that question. I think perhaps people wanting to reproduce should prove they can keep a, say, houseplant alive first. Then move on to a more complex form of life like a dog, and, if you succeed with the plant and the dog MAYBE you can have a kid.
