Authorities in Victoria are now using concerns about extreme obesity as justification for removing children from the care of their parents.
The Department of Health Services has removed at least two children from their parents’ care this year over the issue.
Associate Professor John Dixon, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, says the number is expected to rise in the coming years.
“We’ve got to understand that as the waistlines of our kids grow, we’re going to have these extreme case of obesity,” he told News Breakfast.
Professor Dixon says sometimes removing the child is the best option.
“It’s not the obesity itself that would lead to a child being removed from their home, but it would be a range of circumstances that would make it difficult for that child to be managed in the best way at home,” he said.
“[Obesity can be the result of a] whole range of environmental issues, the food, the lack of transport, all sorts of things.
“But it also can be symptomatic of dysfunctional circumstances… where there’s problems; mental illness, siblings with disabilities, that really make family life for some of these children very complex indeed, and produce that rare circumstance where they may be better off out of home for a while.
“Thinking of the rights of the child, the best interests of the child, if it’s counterproductive to be at home, then in very rare circumstances that child may be best off not at home.”
Click here to read my post ‘Considered Too Obese to Keep His Kids‘.
I am of the opinion that one shouldn’t need to discuss ‘weight’ with issues with your children. I prefer a more positive approach where healthy food and exercise is promoted rather than “negative talk” which is likely to make the child even more self-conscious.
A new report says parents are concerned that talking to their child about their weight will lead to an eating disorder.
This figure rises to 65% of parents who identify their child as being overweight or obese.
More than 1,000 parents with a child aged 5-16 responded to the Let’s talk about weight survey on Netmums and shared how they feel about bringing up the topic of weight with their child.
I do understand that the problem is more complicated than just advocating health over weight loss. I also realise that children are too smart not to realise that healthy lifestyle measures are a result of their weight issues.
What is your opinion? How should parents discuss weight issues with their children?
It seems that we have given up on promoting healthy lifestyles and educating our students about nutrition. It’s now all about avoiding obesity:
The American Medical Association on Wednesday put its weight behind requiring yearly instruction aimed at preventing obesity for public schoolchildren and teens.
The nation’s largest physicians group agreed to support legislation that would require classes in causes, consequences and prevention of obesity for first through 12th graders. Doctors will be encouraged to volunteer their time to help with that under the new policy adopted on the final day of the AMA’s annual policymaking meeting.
It is disgusting how some sections of society treat overweight kids. As if the stigma of being overweight in a “body beautiful” obsessed world isn’t hard enough. I am sick to death of reading negative ideas when trying to solve childhood obesity. The latest negative idea, which seeks to reward slim kids by giving them extra marks for no other reason than their body mass index readings, not only compromises the fairness of the exam process but makes children already suffering from feeling neglected and judged, feel like dirt.
Pierre Dukan, the nutritionist behind the popular but controversial Dukan diet, has suggested that France tackle child obesity by giving extra exam marks for slimness.
Dukan, who has sold 8 million copies of his diet book worldwide, made the proposal in a 250-page book called ‘An Open Letter to the Future President’, which he sent out on Tuesday to 16 candidates for France’s presidential election.
The plan calls for high school students to be allowed to take a so-called “ideal weight” option in their final year exams, the “baccalaureat”, under which they would earn extra points if they kept a body mass index (BMI) of between 18 and 25.
Those already overweight at the start of the two-year course would score double points if they managed to slim down over a period of two years.
“It’s a fantastic motivator,” Dukan told Reuters.
When we even consider adopting methods like Dukan’s we do a monumental disservice to kids struggling with their weight. These kids are often well-mannered, generous, talented and caring individuals. These are traits we should be focussing on, not weight! You will never see a suggestion that caring, empathetic, selfless and considerate kids get extra marks. These qualities pale into insignificance compared to a person’s weight.
When we employ negative inducements to entice children to lose weight, we not only make it harder for them to succeed but we also make them feel not good enough.
My view (as espoused in my novel) is that whilst I hope our overweight children are successful in losing their excess kilos, either way, let’s not let weight distract us from the qualities and unique characteristics of the person.
Whilst childhood obesity isn’t ideal, ignoring who the child is and concentrating on how much they weigh, is infinitely worse.
You have got to be kidding me! How can so-called intelligent adults pass a law so downright cruel? Sometimes I think adults take advantage of the resilience of children. They think they can impose great humiliation on poor, naive children, without any long-term cost.
Well I have news for you – children, like adults, don’t like being made to feel ugly, different or unworthy. So why on earth would you pass a law that mandates schools to weigh children so that their weight can be compared with others?
A state law requiring schools to measure a child’s height and weight to find out how they stack up against their peers has generated plenty of controversy, but not a lot of local participation.
School officials say the law’s aim to combat childhood obesity is a worthy cause, but its approach is questionable.
The law measures body mass index, which is calculated from height and weight and given as a percentile. It’s generally a snapshot of a person’s overall body fat, but many argue it doesn’t take into account individual body types or other health risks.
Schools are required to take those measurements for students in kindergarten, third, fifth and ninth grades, then report that data to the Ohio Department of Health and mail the results to parents.
State education officials say similar health screenings, such as hearing and vision tests, have been done for many years with the results kept private.
What if the law was to include Ohio politicians? What if they were forced to step on the scale in front of their peers and were measured for all to see?
Yes, privacy might be assured, but children aren’t stupid. They know why they are being measured, and the humiliation of the procedure will not be lost on the overweight.
This plan is doomed to failure.
My wish, as idealistic as it sounds, is to make our children comfortable with who they are, regardless of their weight. Whilst I strongly advocate educating children about healthy eating choices and encouraging active lifestyles, I am even more concerned about the inner wellbeing of the child. To me, the tragedy is not that there are obese children, but that there are children who feel unworthy, ugly and hopeless because of their weight.
It’s time to get rid of the scales and let our children know that their worth is not the sum total of what they weigh, but rather, who they are and how they treat others.
There is no doubt that social workers are unheralded and deserve much credit for the work that they do. But having said that, I can’t hide my displeasure at their willingness to break up families in the name of raising thinner kids.
It bothers me that people think they know what is best for someone elses children. It disturbs me that people can justify taking children from their flawed but loving parents and subject them to foster homes and estrangement from their flesh and blood all in the name of helping them to lose weight.
What about what the children want? Has it ever occurred to them that some children are prepared to deal with the consequences of being severely overweight if it means they can remain with their parents? Since when did physically healthy foster kids have it much better than obese kids enjoying the closeness of their parents and siblings?
And don’t tell me that parents that raise obese kids are ‘cruel’. Yes, they have made poor parental decisions and yes their poor decisions may have all kinds of serious consequences for their kids. But parenting, like weight loss, is not an easy job. It is unfair to taint parents as ‘cruel’ and ‘unfit to parent’ just because they are not succeeding in breaking bad habits. No parents wants to see their child suffer. Some just need a lot more support than others to break bad habits.
Four obese children are on the brink of being permanently removed from their family by social workers after their parents failed to bring their weight under control.
In the first case of its kind, their mother and father now face what they call the ‘unbearable’ likelihood of never seeing them again.
Their three daughters, aged 11, seven and one, and five-year-old son, will either be ‘fostered without contact’ or adopted.
Either way, the family’s only hope of being reunited will be if the children attempt to track down their parents when they become adults.
In an emotional interview, the 42-year-old mother said: ‘We might not be the perfect parents, but we love our children with all our hearts. To face a future where we will never see them again is unbearable.
‘They picked on us because of our size to start with and they just haven’t let go, despite the fact we’ve done everything to lose weight and meet their demands. We’re going to fight this to the bitter end. It feels like even prisoners have more human rights than we do.’
The bullying and stand over tactics by the social workers and courts were deplorable. Making them send their kids to dance and sport lessons is not sensible at all. Why wouldn’t the courts give the children a say about whether or not they wanted to go to dance and football? Ask a young girl suffering from obesity whether or not she would take up dancing, she would invariably say, “Over my dead body.” Clocking in and out to satisfy court imposed curfews and having social workers stand in corners taking notes at dinnertime just added to the lunacy.
Society is too harsh on parents. Parenting is a difficult job. Instead of judging or punishing parents for bad choices, would it be too much trouble to offer real support and encouragement? Has this couple ever once been offered free appointments with dieticians or councillors?
Soon we are going to get to the stage where it is socially acceptable to classify any parent with even a slightly overweight child as a reckless and sub-standard parent.
You don’t need me to tell you that it is unhealthy for preteens to target. I would go even further than that and say that it’s unhealthy for preteens to be fixated on their weight to begin with.
A book aimed at helping young children lose weight has outraged an eating disorder help group.
Maggie Goes on a Diet, aimed at 6 to 12 year olds, tells the story of an overweight girl who goes on a diet and goes on to become the school soccer star.
Its Hawaiian publishers pitch the book on their website as an inspirational tale for kids.
“Maggie has so much potential that has been hiding under her extra weight,” the website says.
Deb Schwarz, manager of Eating Difficulties Education Network (EDEN), a New Zealand not-for-profit organisation, says the book could have the opposite effect, and encourage eating disorders among children.
“Research shows poor body image is associated with depression, bullying, eating disorders, risk taking behaviours, and reduced physical activity. Messages like those in the book promote body dissatisfaction.”
She says there are concerns that dieting messages increase disordered eating in children.
This is another sad situation of literature published for the purpose of stirring controversy and making money at the expense of the vulnerable.
Shame on you David Ludwig for making a conclusion that belies all common sense and sensitivity. How can you justify the idea of taking children away from their parents because of their obesity? How is such a move in the best interest of the child?
Should parents lose custody of their kids if they get too fat?
A commentary in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association says yes.
Harvard obesity specialist David Ludwig says putting children in temporary foster care can be more ethical than providing weight-loss surgery – but only in extreme cases.
Ludwig says the point is not to punish the parents – but to act in the child’s best interest, and provide care that the parents do not or cannot provide.
Ludwig says the goal is to get those kids back to their parents as soon as possible – and for parents to learn the proper ways to prevent future obesity.
There have previous calls for government intervention, in cases where parents either neglect or refuse proper efforts to control a child’s extreme weight.
A doctor from London cited a Wisconsin case from 2009 in which a 440-pound 16-year-old almost died at UW Hospital in Madison.
Doctors had talked about reporting the parents for neglect – but they didn’t have to, because the girl later lost 100 pounds with her family’s help.
The Journal article comes a week after an annual study reported that 27-percent of Wisconsin adults are obese.
This method will further punish a child with enough to contend with as it is. No parent wants their child to be obese. Yes, some do more than others to avoid obesity, but that doesn’t mean that they are not loving and caring parents. Many of them, as reported, suffer from obesity themselves.
As a society we must learn to support rather than threaten. The child’s welfare does not rely on just a loss of weight but also the continued love and support from their parents. We must not fingerpoint or punish parents for obesity. It won’t help one bit. Instead we must offer as much support, education and guidance as we can to ensure that families are able to pass up cheap calorie laden products for the more expensive, yet far more healthy alternatives.
The figures being released about the rate of childhood obesity is quite alarming. To read that half a million British children have liver disease makes me worry very much about what a difficult state we are in and how far we have to go to reverse this unfortunate trend.
Doctors say obesity levels are now so high that children are commonly suffering signs of disease more commonly associated with alcohol abuse, meaning many will go on to develop cirrhosis, with some requiring liver transplants.
Government estimates say around 500,000 children below the age of 15 are suffering from “non alcoholic liver disease” which is caused by a build-up of fat within liver cells, which stops the organ functioning properly.
The condition increases the risks of heart disease, strokes and type 2 diabetes, and can lead to cirrhosis – scarring of the liver – which is often not detected until it is too late.
Britain’s most senior liver expert said the country was now facing a timebomb, with thousands of lives already at risk, and the numbers of children suffering from the disease projected to “rocket” further in line with rising obesity levels.
Prof Martin Lombard, the Department of Health’s national clinical director for liver disease warned that the disease was rarely detected until it had caused damage.
He said: “Liver disease is a silent killer, which is putting the lives of thousands of our children at risk. We do not want to see the next generation dying young from a condition that can be prevented.
“We know that with childhood obesity on the rise we can expect more children to be at risk of fatty liver disease in the near future.”
Government figures show 30 per cent of children aged between 2 and 15 are now overweight or obese – a figure which is projected to double by 2050.
Prof Lombard said he was concerned that children suffering from fatty liver disease were at particular risk if they started experimenting with alcohol in teenage years. He said even modest amounts of alcohol could worsen the condition.
There is no medical treatment for the disease, but the extent of it can be reduced by weightloss and improvements in diet.
Feeling guilty about the amount of candy you allow your children to eat? Not anymore. If anything, you aren’t feeding them enough!
Or, at least that’s what the research seems to suggest ….
Indulging a sweet tooth might not be anyone’s idea of a good weight-loss strategy. But in jaw-dropping new research, scientists say they’ve found something even more likely to be associated with unwanted weight gain in children and adolescents than eating candy:
Not eating candy.
For the study, published in Food & Nutrition Research, researchers at Louisiana State University tracked the health of more than 11,000 youngsters between the ages of two and 18 from 1999 to 2004. They found that children who ate sweets were 22 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than kids who shunned sweets. Adolescents? Those who ate candy were 26 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than their non-candy-eating counterparts.
And that wasn’t the only surprising finding. Researchers also found that the blood of candy-eating kids had lower levels of C-reactive protein. That’s a marker of inflammation in the body and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses.
Who funds this research? Could somebody please do a study that links the watching of televised sport to greater physical health? I could do with some scientific evidence to persuade my wife that I’m not wasting my time
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