Should “The State” Take Obese Children From Their Home?

Reading this article: Watch Out Parents: The State May Want to Take Away Your Obese Kids, was horribly disturbing.

Gov’t “intervention” always does far more damage than good. Take a look at the state our country is in now from the past 3 years of unprecedented government “intervention” into every aspect of our lives.

We’re not better off, nor will these children ever be. It seems it’s past time that we realize our biggest obesity problem is government itself. The “fat cats” we should be concerned about are in gov’t.

We’ll take some excerpts from the article and respond with the questions we have.

Should parents of extremely obese children lose custody for not controlling their kids’ weight?

Should anyone even be asking this question? Is it not strictly the business of the family and the child? The notion that there’s some “public health threat” here is balderdash.

…the opinion piece in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association says putting children temporarily in foster care is in some cases more ethical than obesity surgery.

Is placing a child into a foster home not traumatic and bordering on “cruel and unusual punishment”? For having a weight problem? Think back to when you were a child … would you have wanted to be ripped from loving parents, the home you’re familiar with and the family and friends you cherish?

That may require instruction on parenting,” said Ludwig

Who – especially gov’t – has any right to tell any parent how to raise their child?

“Despite the discomfort posed by state intervention, it may sometimes be necessary to protect a child,” Murtagh said.

“Protect”? Isn’t it more like “CONTROL”? And “discomfort”? How about irreversible psychological trauma? Destruction of a child’s undoubtely already suffering self esteem – something loved ones can have a much stronger impact on than any gov’t entity, offical, or foster care home. Case in point: While feeling utterly devestated at one point in my life, my mom said to me, “remember one of your favorite shows, Andy Griffith? In one of those shows he said to Opie, “You are SOME BODY”, and sweetheart, YOU are SOME BODY, too.” That one little display of love and those words of encouragement changed my life forever. For the better.

Obese children are victims of advertising, marketing, peer pressure and bullying – things a parent can’t control, he said.

Is not EVERY child a victim of these things? It’s called life. We all must learn to cope and learning to cope with these things makes us stronger, better people. Life is tough at times and that is never going to change. And yes, parents DO have control! By teaching children to BE STRONG, to know right from wrong, good from bad, etc. It was done for thousands of years and we never should have strayed away and allowed strangers filled with avarice to take over. That’s where we went wrong. Get your life back in your control, and your childs life will follow suit.

Jerri Gray, a Greenville, S.C., single mother who lost custody of her 555-pound 14-year-old son two years ago, said authorities don‘t understand the challenges families may face in trying to control their kids’ weight.

Agree with Ms. Gray. A parent should work with a doctor, not a gov’t run entity. A parent who loves their child is not going to turn a blind eye and knows their child best. As such, should the parent not be the one to determine how to seek help for their child? If they then wish gov’t intervention, they’ve made that decision and so be it.

Ms. Gray also confirmed my concerns noted above:

`Mommy, I want to be back with you so bad.‘ They’ve done damage by pulling us apart,” Gray said

So “they” say they are so “worried” about the things children are exposed to that parents supposedly have no control over, yet they think it’s “okay” to rip a child from the people who love them the most and the environment they’re the most familiar with. C’mon. If we don’t start seeing and realizing the horrible double standards and contridictions going on right under our noses, we’ve doomed ourselves.

Other Questions to Consider

• Government is doling out free food money hand over fist with which many “poor people” are buying whole milk, sweet cereals, Mac ‘n Cheese, potato chips, etc. So why not first stop the gov’t food hand outs?
• What is to stop a child from re-gaining weight once gov’t finally “releases” them back to their rightful family?
• Who defines the definition of fat? Gov’t run Health and Human Services.
• Since when are fat people a danger to society? Since Obama-care(NOT) passed. Are we now looking at FAT Camps?
• Do these gov’t entities not realize that all the expansive and outrageous gov’t rules and regulations on the food industry, especially that of what they consider “healthy foods” is the very factor that is making these foods too expensive for the average household?
• Have you ever read the myraid of foster care horror stories?
• What about children that appear “sickly” and/or “emaciated” – or just plain too skinny? Will that be next? Accusing parents of NOT feeding their children enough – even though many have a fast metabolism and are just- well, SKINNY!
• What about all the kids roaming the streets in gangs? What kind of “intervention” is going on to help them?
• What if a child develops severe depression and becomes suicidal from the trauma of being taken from those who truly love him/her the most in his/her young life? Will that not give them yet another reason to hang onto your child? This is one scary slippery slope we should fight to the finish.
• Do you know that Hitler suggested they just kill “defective” babies because they cost too much to take care of.
• One of the most mystifying … my own brother went through this … many, MANY children go through a “fat” stage and mother nature eventually works her magic and the child grows out of it. This happened to my brother just before his growth spurt. He went through a very chubby stage, but when he started shooting up in height he thinned out to thinner-than-average proportions. How do you predict this in a child? Not sure but it happens more often than not.
• Solutions to suggest? Yes. For starters – and the poor who are the largest segment of potential victims of this (and why big brother is working hard to make us ALL poor) – how about going back to after school jobs like paper routes – on foot or bike, etc. Use your imagination – there are a zillion potential jobs like this kids can do – picking weeds, mowing lawns, sweeping up a store, stocking shelves, shoveling snow. And best of all, they’ve got the energy! Sitting on Facebook seems more dangerous than a candy bar.

Dr. Lainie Ross, a medical ethicist at the University of Chicago, said: “There’s a stigma with state intervention. We just have to do it with caution and humility and make sure we really can say that our interventions are going to do more good than harm.”

Perhaps it’s time we all inform them that no, it does more HARM than good. . .

Category: Weight Loss