Children Being Taken Away from Parents Because of Obesity

A recent Time magazine article asks, "Should Morbidly Obese Kids Be Taken From Their Parents?", at first glance it might seem that this is a rhetorical question, however, this very thing has happened to children in the United States and in other countries. As America's obesity epidemic continues unabated, with rises in childhood obesity being the most recent startling development, is this the only way to save some very obese children from a lifetime of obesity related disease?

Before answering this question let's take a closer look at who decided that a child should be taken away from their parents. The laws in several states stipulate that a variety of "mandated reporters" such as pediatricians, school teachers, and other professionals who work with children must report evidence of child abuse to the proper authorities, usually a child protective service or agency.

The reason why there is mandated reporting is obvious: to protect children who can not protect themselves. A pediatrician does not need to prove child abuse, far from it, the pediatrician only needs to have a suspicion of child abuse to act. And often pediatricians and other mandated reports do report suspected child abuse, as failure to report even suspected child abuse can land a mandated reporter in hot water. Furthermore, to protect pediatricians and school teachers against lawsuits, the law provides a sort of immunity from prosecution for doctors and teachers reporting child abuse to authorities.

So what does a pediatrician do when he or she sees a young child who is obviously morbidly obese? Such children are actually quite common. They often are brought into the pediatrician's office with equally obese parents and siblings. During my time as a medical student in pediatrician's offices comments from staff and students regarding very obese young children often were less than flattering concerning the parenting style of the parents. Indeed, many nurses and doctors are upset that parents would let their children get so obese, right under their nose.

It was assumed that the parents of such super obese children either had a very poor grasp of proper nutrition, or somehow thought that having an obese child was "cute." It was often sad seeing such patients as thoughts of a life time of disability and later diabetes, heart disease and even cancer, all related to obesity, swirl through the mind when you see one of these children.

Indeed, pediatricians are having to deal with a range of health problems in young children that were virtually unheard of generations ago, including high blood pressure, and adult-onset diabetes linked to obesity which is now appearing in children at alarming rates. So much so that adult-onset diabetes is now simply called Type 2 diabetes. Nobody knows for sure how bad the effects of childhood obesity will be on these children when they become adults, but many believe that we are looking at a health care disaster in the making.

The pediatrician would sometimes discuss with the parents about how their child was too heavy for their age, along with the requisite presentation and explanation of the child's growth chart. Often times parents gave blank stars, or reiterated stories about how they were trying to cut down their child's food intake. After observing such encounters you got the sense that many parents did not understand the seriousness of their child's obesity, perhaps as they were obese themselves, or perhaps that they were trying to help their children eat healthier, but that this was proving very difficult to do.

Proponents who favor taking very obese children away from their parents believe that it is child abuse if parents provided an unlimited supply of food, candy, soft drinks, and snacks to their children. Indeed, in a household where the parents are obese there may be a readily available supply of calorie rich food available. But is it child abuse?

In a way it is unintentional child abuse, as the young obese child is often unable to say no to what food that he or she eats, and furthermore, that food eating patterns set up in early childhood could persist for life. By taking a severely obese child away from his or her parents for an amount of time, the child's weight could drop and he or she could learn healthier eating habits. However, this should be considered a last resort as many parents may lack the knowledge about proper nutrition and the harms of overeating during childhood.

Hopefully, pediatricians and family doctors will be able to intervene with a given family and help them to learn to serve smaller portions of food to their children, as well as decreasing the amount of sugary snacks they eat. Given that doctors can be reported for not reporting child abuse, and potentially lose their license, many pediatricians may in some instances err on the side of caution and report suspected child abuse by over nutrition in the case of a severely obese child.

As the Time article states, nobody knows for sure how many children are removed from their family's home due to obesity in the United States due to child privacy laws, the number is sure to increase as the obesity epidemic in children continues unabated.

Sources:

Should Morbidly Obese Kids Be Taken From Their Parents
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1930772,00.html