Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care

[n2doc]

(11-27) 11:10 PST CLEVELAND (AP) --

An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

The Plain Dealer reports ( http://bit.ly/t68M7D) that the Cleveland 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension.

The case is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care strictly for a weight-related issue.

Lawyers for the mother say the county overreached when authorities took the boy last week. They say the medical problems he is at risk for do not yet pose an imminent danger.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/11/27/national/a111021S11.DTL

[elleng]

1. Right, what's 'imminent' anyhow?

He won't die next week???

[Angry Dragon]

2. What will be next??

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[msanthrope]

20. The child is on a breathing machine at night, and the mom's had a year to comply with dr.'s orders.

I think letting a kid stay a year with a parent who can't follow basic health directions is a terrible risk.

[kestrel91316]

22. Yeah, let Jesus take care of the kid.

Sadly, he won't until he's in heaven, I'm afraid.

[Brother Buzz]

3. Why did the image of Jethro Bodine pop in my mind?

[dkf]

5. Breathing problems seem imminent to me.

Officials first became aware of the boy’s weight after his mother took him to the hospital last year while he was having breathing problems, the newspaper reported. The child was diagnosed with sleep apnea and began to be monitored by social workers while he was enrolled in a program called “Healthy Kids, Healthy Weight” at the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/11/27/obese-third-grader-taken-from-family-placed-in-foster-care/

[LWolf]

6. We are trying to work with the family of one of my students.

A middle school girl. She comes from a large family; her dad is currently having some problems with blood pressure and type II diabetes.

Over the years, their response to her weight has always been that they are a large people, they love her the way she is, and they want her to accept herself.

She gained about 60 lbs in the last year. She was big before. Now she's 13 and weighs 300+ lbs. She's about my height; 5' 6" or so.

Last year she had regular episodes of soft tissue damage that kept her from using the stairs at school or doing PE. This year, only 3 months in, she's already had 2 episodes.

She can't sit facing the table and still reach it to work; she has to sit at an angle.

I don't know how "imminent danger" is legally defined, but I don't see this girl living a long, or a full, life. I don't want her taken from her family; I want her family to make some life changes that will give her a better chance at health, and keep them around for longer, too.

[dkf]

8. Well it doesn't sound like they are interested in changing their lifestyle.

I suppose the state must think the threat of taking the kids would fix things but if not then what?

[LWolf]

12. We're hoping that some straight talk from medical people

will get through to them. They DO love her; they just don't "see" that she is not just overweight, but morbidly obese, and that her health is on the line.

[dkf]

13. That is because their lifestyle is probably the same.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. That is so sad.

Poor girl.

[LWolf]

11. Yes.

She breaks my heart.

We're working adaptive PE into her IEP; that's not what she's identified for, but it's a start. It gives us the opening to have hard conversations with the parent, and will provide some PE equipment that she can use. It hurts her to move, so she typically doesn't participate and fails PE. We're thinking we'd start with a stationary bicycle.

She has friends, but at recess she sits on the ground with her back against the wall...alone, because her friends are running around.

Our school nurse will be in on the IEP; we're hoping that our concerns and efforts will get through to parents.

[dkf]

14. What is she eating? Is it outsized in proportion or maybe it is genetic?

[LWolf]

15. It's probably partly genetic.

She DOES come from large people.

It's more than portion control. They eat junk.

A concerted effort to leave the cheetohs behind and focus on fresh foods would be a good start.

[Glimmer of Hope]

16. She is lucky to have people like you looking out for her.

[BiggJawn]

7. Maybe the kid wants to be a Sumo wrestler when he gets older?

That's an honest field. Well, if you stay away from the gambling part...

[lunatica]

10. This is very sad.

[Lyric]

17. I could understand this if the mother was refusing to cooperate

or being hostile toward attempts to help the child lose weight. But I read the article, and it appears that she was cooperating just fine. The kid had already lost some weight; she had him an afterschool exercise program; she bought him a bicycle and encouraged him to ride it; she limited his diet; she was treating his sleep apnea. It appears that he was somehow sneaking food past her, either getting it himself or via his siblings and friends, and had gained some of the lost weight back. But the mother wasn't fighting the changes; she was just as frustrated as anyone else.

I don't see why it's necessary to traumatize a family like this when the mother was killing herself trying to follow all the advice she was given. Interestingly, the foster mother he's living with claims that she can't keep up with all the appointments this kid has for medical checkups, the dietician, his exercise classes, etc. They're talking about moving the child AGAIN to a foster family that includes a personal trainer. Why the hell didn't they offer the MOTHER the services of a paid personal trainer? Why does it make any sense at all to remove the child, when simply adding a few support services to the child's home could easily have solved the problem?

This is just awful all the way around. Foster care is a terrible thing for a child to have to endure, especially when they've been taken away from a loving, caring family rather than an abusive, dysfunctional one. Would a wealthy family have their fat child taken away from them? I seriously doubt it.

[eridani]

27. +1000 n/t

[etherealtruth]

18. Very sad ...

"But now lawyers for the mother say they've been told that the foster mother who has the child in a neighboring suburb is having trouble keeping up with all of his appointments.
There was even a discussion about getting the foster mother additional help or moving the child again, this time to a foster home with a personal trainer, Amata said.
"I wonder why they didn't offer the mother that kind of extra help," Amata said."

http://bit.ly/t68M7D

The article doesn't spell out the type of supports that were offered to the mother and child prior to the child's removal.

[Initech]

19. 200 pound third grader? Third fucking grade? WTF!!!!

[kestrel91316]

23. I know. It's like the kitten I once saw that was 5 lb at 2 months (should have been 2 lb).

Turned out the family had food dishes about every 2 ft all around the home, and spent all their time encouraging it to eat because they thought it needed to eat LOTS in order to grow.

I had to tell them that growth takes more than a week, and that kitten shouldn't weigh 5 lb until it was a minimum of 4 and preferably 5 months old.

[kestrel91316]

21. The lawyers for the mother need their heads examined. They wouldn't

consider the boy in imminent danger until he actually had a stroke or heart attack.

GOOD for Ohio. Common sense rules.

[etherealtruth]

25. Really???

The child didn't seem to fare any better in the foster home. The state is considering moving him again and providing more supports. Perhaps the mother could have done better with the additional supports. It surely would have caused less trauma to the child and been far less expensive for the state (noting the article reports the child appeared happy and adjusted and was an honor role student).

I don't dispute the dangers associated with the child's morbid obesity ... I question whether the best interests of the child have been adequately considered.

[eridani]

28. No, you should have your head examined--or at least read the whole article

The foster mother can't cope either, so now they are looking for a home with a personal trainer. I'd like to hear jost one reason why they couldn't have provided the kid's OWN MOTHER with a trainer.

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. sad story.

[eridani]

26. If the kid has Prader-Willi syndrome, what in GODDAM HELL do they

--think foster parents can do anything about that?