Reminds me of a woman I saw on television with a 68 pound 10 month old child. When trying to get her to understand that she should not be feeding her child that much, her comment was "Everybody knows fat babies eat more!". No concept of cause and effect.

omg... 12%.... omg....

However, I did know a family that had a terribly obese preteen. And they eventually padlocked the refrigerator, because he was demanding food, stealing food, he had some sort of syndrome or illness that causes huge appetite. padlocked the fridge, padlocked the cabinets, and he started breaking in to neighbor's houses. I never did know what happened to him.

Willow, I believe you are talking about Prader-Willi Syndrome these people display many other physical and behavioral symptoms. If this kid has it it should have been diagnosed by now.

I was just going to say rdh1983... That is definitely the description of a Prader-Willi Syndrome child.

No, don't "stop feeding him". Starvation diets don't work. He needs to be fed better and should get much, much more exercise.

Nothing in the article suggests Prader-Willi Syndrome. Let's not guess.

Lawyers for the mother say the county is overreaching in taking the child. They say the medical problems the boy is at risk for do not yet pose an imminent danger to his health.

Lawyers who don't understand basic concepts like what a medical problem is shouldn't make silly comments.

The real reason this is happening is that Cuyahoga County is in the midst of a full-scale media driven foster care panic. After the Plain Dealer rediscovered the fact that the county has a child welfare agency and that sometimes children known to the system die a reporter who wanted to make a name for himself and an editorial writer who’s even worse rushed to scapegoat any and all efforts to keep families together. (Details are on our Child Welfare Blog here: )

With every caseworker running scared, they rushed to tear apart every family in sight. Removals of children have skyrocketed – with no regard for the enormous emotional trauma of removal itself or the fact that the rate of actual abuse in foster care is far higher than in the general population.

Now, a better Plain Dealer reporter notes this about the current case:

“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, [Juvenile Public Defender Sam] Amata said.

"I wonder why they didn't offer the mother that kind of extra help," Amata said.”

Good question.

Richard Wexler

Executive Director

National Coalition for Child Protection Reform

www.nccpr.org

I agree Marinedoc. I was not suggesting PWS as a reason for the obesity. Just the opposite if the child had PWS it should have been diagnosed long before 3rd grade.

rdhu1983, yeah, I agree with you too. That was directed toward the others. Even if the kid had an eating problem, the mother had to actually provide the child with enough food for him to gain all of that extra weight.

I think the mother was negligent in the first place for allowing her kid to consume the amount of food necessary to gain 3 TIMES the body weight for a child of his age. THREE TIMES. He's eaten almost a half MILLION EXTRA calories to get to over 200 pounds.

That's the equivalent of what a grown man of my size and activity (170 lbs who exercises moderately 3-4 times per week) should eat in over 6 MONTHS.

Wow this 8 year old outweighs me and the majority of my adult friends. That's scary to think about. To allow a child to get this big may be considered a form of child abuse. I mean, his over all general health is severely compromise. He may very well die at an early age.

To take him away and put him into foster care is a sticky subject. Once such a landmark decision like this is made, it opens the door for other kids to be taken away from their families. Now standards will have to be made, i.e. if your kid is 20% over weight they can be taken away. No doubt something needs to be done to reverse this trend in obese children, but do you really want to go down this path?

This child is unfortunately already destined for a life of health problems. Many studies have shown that severe obesity as a child lead to major health problems as an adult. This type of childhood obesity typically leads to heart problems as well as diabetes as an adult. There is no doubt that what this mother has allowed to happen is child abuse and unfortunately the child will have to deal with the effects for the rest of his life. The question in my mind is not why they took the child away, but why it took so long for anyone to take action. I understand the concerns some people have about setting this kind of precedent, but child abuse comes in many forms and all forms must be addressed for the welfare of the children.

People laugh and make jokes about this situation but this is not a joke. I have grandchildren in the foster care system and I as well as my son and daughter-in-law have been trying to get them back for going on two years. It is to the point where they are trying to adopt them to a white couple who i feel just want the money. My grandchildren have suffered physical as well as psychological abuse, however child protective services feel they are better off in the system. It is sickening! I live in Riverside County in California and in the beginning of this crisis i talked to a lot of people who have gone through the same thing. They all gave me an idea of what to expect. I couldn't believe the horror stories I heard about other families and having their children taken away from them and put in foster care. I was also told the younger the children are the harder it is to get them back, CPS will adopt them out. We are not bad people, however CPS will find a way to demonize you. CPS have too much control and they abuse it. If you speak out for your children, report abuse, or neglect from the foster family CPS label you as combative. They take your words and twist them to mean whatever fits thier need at the time. It is a horror show! The older I get the more disappointed I am in the system. I would have never believed in a million years that people could be so EVIL! That they could not care that they are hurting children. I know there are legitimate cases out there where children are better off placed out of the home because of drugs, abuse and neglect, however this isn't one of them. The judge is no better, he goes along with whatever CPS says, instead of acting independently and doing the right thing. I read bonuses and incentives are paid to adopt these children out. There has to be some kind of incentive for ignoring the cries of children and families to be reunited. MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil...not the actual currency. Which is worse being over 200lbs at 9 or living away from mommy who is stuffing the kids face?

Richard: All I have to go on is the information presented in this article, but if she is not following doctor's recommendations on bringing an absurdly obese 8 year old to a healthy weight, then she might as well be leaving crack pipes and kitchen knives out. It isn't a question of IF the child will have health problems, it is how severe and how soon.

I think the CPS is acting appropriately.

I really wonder if the child does have a medical problem. Not all cases of Prader-Willi syndrome are appropriately diagnosed at an early age. It would seem almost impossible to make a normal child eat enough to gain that much weight. If the child does have a disorder where he craves large amounts of food, whether it is Prader-Willi Syndrome or not, I feel for his parents. I am not trying to make light of the situation, but my dog has gained 30-40 pounds since his testicles were removed because of an enlarging testicle. (I took him in as an adult so didn't have the chance to have him neutered at an early age). He was normal weight before that. He pesters me unmercifully for food. It's not as easy as it looks sometimes.

Why all of this speculation about Prader-Willi, it's rare, and there's nothing in the article that even remotely suggests this disease. The kid is morbidly obese. I've seen 4 year olds who weigh over 100lbs. I've seen a 12 year old who weighed in at 450lbs (he and has likely 500lbs dad came in to get a note excusing him from gym--he needed a note that gave him extra gym). None had any sort of genetic anomaly.

And Kristina, you said it yourself "He pesters ME unmercifully for food"

You still have to give it to him.

Sounds terrible...unless the third grader is Jethro Bodine.

Julia says..."My grandchildren have suffered physical as well as psychological abuse, however child protective services feel they are better off in the system".... you seemed to disagree with CPS, did you leave something out by mistake?? If kids are being abused, the abuser should be in JAIL, and the kids getting a "forever home" adoption asap.

The State of CA has the Chaffee Grant, among other aid, for foster care kids to get money for college - that is books, board, and tuition - but many do not qualify for a 4 year college due to their lacking the academic requirements after being bounced around in foster care. (Check financial aid at the Cal State near you, including Univ of CA system - Riverside has a UC.) The community colleges have monies for grants for ex-foster kids also.

Social workers that may not know, San Diego County has a residential high school for foster kids - San Pascual High School. The kids can leave at any time - but they rarely do, beats life on the street. They also get transitional care at 18, as otherwise the State steps away.

Interviewing (for a class) a worker at a local juvenile hall residential center - the kids are better off - they are required to take their meds, actually get FOOD, and have structure. It's sad, but the worker said the kids tend to thrive at the center - vs. just twisting in the wind at their "homes", such as they are.

julia hodges: first off, I take exception to your specifically stating that a "white couple" wants to adopt your grandchildren. The color of the persons wishing to foster or adopt don't make them better or worse for the job. Secondly, I am sorry for your personal situation with your grandkids but if the kids are in foster care they probably need to be. As surprising as it may be to some, the Child Protective Services (not just of CA, but of any state) have better things to do than take perfectly healthy, well cared-for, loved children away from their natural parents. Normally if the grandparents, aunts or older siblings can provide an adequate home they are looked at first, before the state goes to the expense of placing the children in foster care...so sorry, I don't really think the state came in and stole your grandbabies away for no reason. Most of the time they don't do it quickly enough. Maybe the parents need some parenting classes or counseling, anything to show an earnest effort to get the kids back. They don't start looking at adopting out foster kids unless the situation they left at home is irreparable, or the birth parents are completely unwilling to make an effort to change the situation. Hope things improve for you and you get to see them in better circumstances.

CPS is out of control in ALL states, not just Ohio or California. Right now my daughter is fighting to get her 2 month old daughter back after a "caseworker" decided to take her due to a false positive drug screen (not test) after birth. And, yes, they get paid more from our own federal government the younger the child they can adopt out. That practice needs to stop immediately. And, no, most CPS workers are not trained to keep families together; they are trained what to say to remove them. They don't get as much money if they offer the family services as they do for foster parents or adoptive parents.

hungrymongoose, your version of government, gastapo fascism, is no better than communism. After all, this is a 200 lb 8 y/o that Ohio took, and that not leading to communism. At that age I weighed 109 lb and I got made fun of because of my weight......so how bad is it for this kid?

Ken-1146458, out here in California I'm reading CPS news stories about children DIEING because CPS is being neglectful about neglectful/dangerous "parents".

Seems like a slippery slope. Who gets to decide at what weight the state gets to take the kids away? Hopefully not the case workers that get paid a $2000 bonus for each kid they remove from parental custody. Otherwise it'll end up being that if your kids are 1 pound too heavy or too light the state will take them and put them in a foster home where they'll get raped and beaten and otherwise horribly abused but then it's somehow not the state's problem anymore because there's no bonus for removing kids from foster homes.

while the mother should take greater care feeding him, The state of ohio does not have the right to pull the child away from the mother unless they can prove abuse in a court of law. Plenty of overweight children out there, who gives them the right to determine at which point they take the child away? Are they willing to file child abuse charges against the mother? If not, then they need to keep their nose out of the situation.

When I lived in Ohio, my county's CPS was known to be one of the worst in the country. One woman who use to be a CPS caseworker said... that if they could not find something to put down on their records... the supervisor would have to come out and find it for them. She said it's because they needed to have a # of 'children's lives that were made better or saved by their involvement' or they would lose a certain amount of federal and state funding... ie - they can't prove a need for the money if the county was full of decent parents. Awareness and prevention doesn't show a need for the money... it's taking kids away, # of opened cases, or court ordered counseling to do that. Sadly, the courts tend to side with CPS 'just in case' something bad could happen. Too many courts don't really look into what's going on- easier to just stamp the paperwork and move on.

Also I've known Foster parents that were worse than the parents. While in high school, I had some friends that were in foster care said that physical abuse (bruises from a dow rod across thier lower back and hips) and sexual abuse was occuring in different foster homes- if they went to CPS about it- they were told to stop making up stories to get back to their parents- the claims were never investigated. It took one of the boys to run away to a hospital to prove sexual abuse was going on. Another set of foster parents I knew personally took on kids for the money... matter of fact she bought the foster kids thrift store items while she took the state clothing voucher to buy her kids new clothing- They would say the worst things to those foster kids and smack them upside the head constantly.. not hard enough to leave a bruise but enough times it left the kids fearful... and reporting them went NOWHERE. When she grew tired of them.. she would tell CPS that they are emotionally troubled and couldn't handle them any longer. She would go on to get most foster kids.

I do not agree with this decision. Obviously he/she is not in imminent danger. Imagine the emotional stress placed on this child for having been taken away from his/her parent. Instead, officials should offer therapy and education for both mother, father, and child. Our society is very, very hypocritical. Imagine being brain fed fast food all the time on the television. What do you think the child will want to eat? Why aren't the officials going after the fast food and advertising industries?

They have offered a year of therapy and education and the mother has refused to take any steps to help her child. 200 lbs in 3rd grade is not just a chunky kid, it is sad, and it is ABUSE. There are no excuses.

I missed the part where they offered her therapy. If she refused then she obviously does not want to help her child. This is neglect and in such case the state should step in. Where are the rest of the family to help and intervene?

People sure have have a lot of "facts" about stuff they know nothing about. Foster care social workers do not get paid bonuses for removing children. They are trained to do everything possible to preserve families. When they can, they place children with relatives. Foster parents are not allowed to use any corporal punishment. If they do, they will lose their foster care license. Allowing an 8 year old to get to 200 pounds is abuse.

rdh1983

Willow, I believe you are talking about Prader-Willi Syndrome these people display many other physical and behavioral symptoms. If this kid has it it should have been diagnosed by now.

Even if that may be the case, he certainly may not be diagnosed for it. The family may not have medical insurance to properly cover seeing a doctor on a regular basis.

Foster care social workers do not get paid bonuses for removing children

Oh really smart guy? Then how do you explain this?:

http://protectingourchildrenfrombeingsold.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/social-workers-getting-paid-extra-per-child-taken-from-parents-and-placed-into-adoption-be-in-part-motivation-for-the-flds-raid/

http://digitaljournal.com/article/255480

http://reformcps.org/

http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B5433EE7C-6775-4D17-A2A1-CE4686AE1697%7D

and it's not even a uniquely American problem:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511609/How-social-services-paid-bonuses-snatch-babies-adoption.html

What what? Oh you didn't know WTF you were talking about? Yeah no @!$%#, that was evident when you implied that there's no abuse in foster homes. Your post was possibly the most retarded post I've read in quite some time EAE, I suggest you know WTF you're talking about before attempting to converse in the future.

EAE-886609

People sure have have a lot of "facts" about stuff they know nothing about. Foster care social workers do not get paid bonuses for removing children. They are trained to do everything possible to preserve families. When they can, they place children with relatives. Foster parents are not allowed to use any corporal punishment. If they do, they will lose their foster care license. Allowing an 8 year old to get to 200 pounds is abuse.

In the eyes of the parent or guardian, they may not see this as abuse especially if you come from a family that has a history of obesity. And from the defensive comments made in the article, i don't think they do see it as one.

The cartoon related to this article:  Family Guy's Diabeto

That "professor" Arthur Caplan is a FatBoy himself -- he could benefit from denying himself some White Castle 12-packs and Twinkies.

The NewsBabe in the video above is Gorgeous. I KNOW there is a God when I see such Beauty. The Professor is a nice guy too.

I do not know whether Smart & Final grocery chain is nationwide; I buy my vege at low prices there. You CAN eat healthy and pay less than regular grocery prices.

Reading through some of the replys to this post , what comes to mind is , untill you have walked in someone elses shoes , you simply don't have a clue. to comment on this particulal news story a lot more information is needed besides a head line and a couple paragraphs.

Living in Canada and I imagine as with other places , there are ( sorry ladys not being disrespectfull ) I found there are 2 sets of rules ......... male and female.

A female can take her kids and seek and given help and support trying to escape an abusive situation. Where I as a father of 5 sons , could not .... my only help and support was to be told that , I could place my sons into their care untill I got myself stabelized. There was no help besides that available to me.

This , having no where to turn forced me to return to the abusive situation. A few years later , I returned home from work one day to find , CHS in my home and my ( now X ) wife signing the boys in to their care. Now having no choice , I could not quit work or afford child care , resulting in me signing them off , under protest.

Up untill that time , we had well mannered and poilite children , with nothing but praise from everyone we knew , they were doing good in school. And no there was no physical abuse it was all mental , the mother suffered from ADH&D and was also bypolar.

So to make a long story short , here is what the boys learned in foster care. They learned that they did not have to do anything they did not want to and no one could make them. they learned how to smoke , learned to do drugs , learned how to lie and steal. While in foster care the second youngest became addicted to chrystal meth at age 12 .... 2 years later he got is older brother addicted also. Bothh brothers in and out of jail .... the 12 year old , now 30 is sitting in lail as I type for crimes related to his addiction. The older brother I finally managed to get him clean.

I have since too long a story for here but , gotten all the boys out of foster care , this was no easy task. I am still working 24/7 with the other 3 boys trying to reverse the damage done. And I'll start again with the 30 year old when he is released from jail.

All I am saying here is there are always two sides to every story , yes we do have a problem , the problem is finding the proper ways to address issues like this one in this story.

One thing everyone here reading and replying , have to remember , no one can help any one unless they want help.

Gut then most people figure they don't have a problem ..... everyone else has the problem.

Just my opinion

Here is some information on CPS and there so great foster family homes. From a child of the system. My first hand account of my foster home life in the care of California CPS. I was taken from my home after my step father had sexually abused me at the age of 11. I was placed into a foster home. I was scared as I knew non of these people in this new home or what they were like or at least that is what I thought than met their other foster son Nick he was a kid I hung out with at school he was a year older than I but he was the only person in the home that I knew so I sorta clung to him sat next to him talked with him I spent the first few days just trying to adjust to a new home of strangers because I seemed to them to be clinging to Nick they locked me in a room and called me a slut and a whore because I spent all my time with Nick. Now keep in mind that just a few day before I was taken from my home for being molested and here I was in house full of strangers and clinged to the only person I knew and felt comfortable around because he was my friend from school and we were good friends. I had never been called those names before and I thought they were told about what my step father had done and they were calling me these names because it was my fault that my step father did that to me. The foster father was racest as sin and told me I was a @!$%# lover for wanting to watch the fresh prince of bell air on TV. I was emotionally abused at this foster home from both the foster parents. When I did tell my worker she called me a liar and said these are the best foster parents they had and I said if this was there best I would hate to see the worst. Children are more likely to be abused in a foster home than they are in their own home. Don't believe me look it up do your home work before coming on here and saying that CPS is great because they are not. It also took my father 3 years to get me out of foster care even though he was not the abusive parent and was not around when my step father did this but my real father had to jump through more hoops than he could count just to get me back. Why did he have to work so hard to get me out when he did nothing wrong. CPS is a joke they caused me more problems than my step father did I only had to have 1 year of counseling for what my step father had done but needed 4 years of counseling for the abuse I suffered at the hands of CPS and there great foster parents I still have the emotional scars from that foster family and will always have them. Had I been placed with my father in the first place I would not have these painful scars and memories. Now I ask you should any child have to be abused at home just to be more abused by the foster parents CPS thinks are great. More children are abused in the care of CPS than in there care of family members if you ask me CPS should have all the kids removed from their care as they are very abusive and more children die by the hands of CPS and their foster parents than they do in the hands of their own parents LOOK it up the numbers are stagering. here are the painful numbers and you can decide if you want your child in the hands of these monsters or not.

Physical Abuse CPS: 160 Parents: 59

Sexual Abuse CPS: 112 Parents: 13

Neglect CPS: 410 Parents: 241

Medical Neglect CPS: 14 Parents: 12

Death CPS: 6.4 Parents: 1.5

So after looking at the numbers who are the real abusers I would have to say CPS what about you this does not include emotional abuse and every child that enters the system is emotinally abused in one way or another. How many children have to die in the hands of CPS before we do something about it?

So to those of you who think CPS is great what do these numbers tell you because they tell me that CPS is as more guilty of abuse of children than parents are.

Obviously, there is something seriously awry when a third-grader weighs 200 pounds. It is not just a question of how much the child eats, but what and when he/she eats. Physical activity or lack of it is also an important factor. Some kids eat candy bars and drink pop for breakfast, if they even eat breakfast. There has been a lot of research done in the field of nutrition which indicates that Americans are much more insulin resistant than we were a few decades ago. Our food supply has been heavily laced with sugars and other additives which play havoc with our blood sugar. The food we eat has been so processed that most of the fiber and nutritive value are lost. We are literally eating ourselves to death.

This child is not alone. Many kids are being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. Infants as young as six months old are obese. It's a major health issue for our society and we need to get a handle on it NOW. I can only hope for the best for this child.

When the State stops paying for their food then they will eat less

Do you know what the average family gets in SNAP funds? $21 dollars a week per person. Try eating healthy on that. The cheapest things to eat? Carbohydrates. Hence, the obesity problem within the low-income population.

Anne: They also get WIC and those funds are only used for Cereal, Milk, Cheese and Juice. I bet mom dont have problem blowing her money on her vices though i.e. smoking, drinking gambling, etc...

Diabeto: Momma... may I have Coookie?

Diabeto's mom: No, Diabeto... now roll back into keetchen...

bluelake; where is the child's father, GUESS;

Burp!

Love all the above under this post. "Burp" sounds like the beginning scene of MIB II. Your welfare and food stamp dollars at work. Where's the father? Apparently doing 12+ percent of the other welfare cases in the area.

Diabeto, have you seen your papa?

Diabeto: "BUUUURP !"

What father?

He ate the father.

rockmebritney -- apparently, CPS had been working with the mother without results. 200 lbs is ludicrous for a 3rd grader and I cannot imagine the child not already having multiple health problems. Perhaps by taking the child away temporarily, the mother will get the message. I bet she herself is a chunk too.

Agreed - they say the risks aren't yet there for him, but being a tall strong well built lean adult I still only weigh about 230. I can't even imagine how completely wide and blob-like an 8 year old weighing almost as much as me would be.

Despite what was claimed in the article, there clearly already are major ongoing health issues for him - like risk of a random heart attack or stroke, or a blood clot. And he's nearly 100% guaranteed to become diabetic if he already isn't... beyond that, he's probably got a bunch of cruel nick names - all based on the obvious fact that his third chin has 3 chins and his kneecaps have chins - and he's gotta have some REALLY big boobs. Health issues aside, the kid is going to be a basket case mentally and emotionally.

Taking children away from the parents is normally only done when they are being abused - but how can people not see this as abuse?

The little kid (well, young kid - he's hardly little) for whatever reason has been allowed or encouraged to eat more calories in a day than his friends eat in 3 if hes only 8 and already past 200 Lb. The math is really simple here - mommy is putting OUR money at risk (like her insurance would cover this crap, even if she has some) by stuffing him like he was off to the slaughterhouse at the end of the season.

I had a neighbor that had a very fat baby at 7 months old. something like 30 pounds. My daughter was 32 pounds at a year, but was 11 pounds at birth, and was 27 inches tall at a year. but her baby looked like a little buddha. Doctors were telling her that if the baby continued to gain weight, they would call child services. Every time i saw that baby, she had a bottle in her mouth, every time. she'd come over to my house to visit for an hour or two and bring two bottles, just in case she ran out!

chouse:

Nowhere in the article does it say the child is 8 years old; it only says he is in the 3rd grade. WE have no idea HOW old this child is. What if it is a 12-year-old 3rd grader? Still overweight but a little different than an 8-year-old. Wouldn't you agree?

Obesity is a complicated disease ... ever bit as complicated as the disease of alcohol. It is a combination of genetics, culture, personality, psychological problems, and metabolish. Starvation does not "cure" obesity. And for all the nasty people suggesting we starve the poor, may the poorness stick touch you some time in your life and the idea of starving you occurs to someone.

Poverty is as complicated as is obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse, personality disorders, and any other thing you choose to diss and dismiss.

Educate yourself as to the true causes of obesity as a start ... then work on understanding the myriad causes of poverty. That's along the road to being a human being.

To think, if they'd have simply beaten the child, the child would still be living with them. Those poor parents.

Honestly, you people make me sick. You stand around pounding the keyboard with your knuckles about how sinful and evil everyone else is, acting like they deserved to lose their child. The laws have made it so you can't even raise your child as you desire anymore, yet here you are cheering the Government on. Well I hope they rip down your doors and take your children away for something they don't agree with.

We have children being taken away for names, for weight, for spanking, and yet what about the ACTUAL ABUSE? No, wait, that would be common sense. We need to whip up a media firestorm and rip apart some families, yeah, that'll get us some ratings. Well, guess what? When it finally happens to you, you'll be singing a much different tune, and I'll be standing there, laughing at you. I mean what I say with every drop of venom I can humanly muster.

"Nowhere in the article does it say the child is 8 years old; it only says he is in the 3rd grade"

Actually it did - once again MSNBC edits without updating the timestamp...

"Obesity is a complicated disease"

Obesity is not one disease - it's a spectrum of them. And yes there are a number of factors - however in this case the original article (if the current version doesn't include the info) clearly stated that the local CPS had been working with the mother FOR OVER A YEAR to try and teach her how to eat nutritious foods and of the right quantity. So overeating was clearly one of the causes in this case.

Obviously reducing caloric intake without getting exercise won't do anything - indeed it can actually have a negative effect on the child's weight loss - but even if you do exercise a lot, eating far over the required amount for your metabolic rate WILL make you keep on getting bigger.

"Educate yourself as to the true causes of obesity as a start"

How arrogant. I'm quite sure my knowledge of medicine and sociology trumps yours. Nice try. Next time before you try to flame somebody, realize you may have read an edited version of the article far different than the original posters read. They do it all the time here.

"That's along the road to being a human being"

Exsqueeze me? You assert that I'm not a human because they clearly stated that she was overfeeding the youngster and I commented in that regard? You really have a lot of nerve.

Too bad we can't edit posts here...

@littleoldlady3: you would dare to try and flame somebody when you clearly did not even read the article. It hasn't been edited (yet)... here's the quote from the article above.

"The Plain Dealer reports that the 8-year-old"

Seems like littleoldlady3 needs to get her eyeglass prescription renewed.

Aren't there glandular disorders that can cause this child's condition under otherwise benign circumstances. Seems it would not be a big shocker to find out later that the poor kid had a severely underactive thyroid/perithyroid... This article is vague and I think meant to be inflammatory; there is obviously more to this story. Probably just another means of distracting us all from goings on that affect us more directly...

Underactive thyroid and other metabolic diseases do indeed cause weight gain. But anywhere near this much. Plus all metabolic diseases have other symptoms besides weight gain and the child has been in under doctor's care since they said the mother was not following doctor's orders.

If it is a 12 year old 3rd grader, he has other problems besides weight.

Most states do not allow a child to be retained more than twice in 13 years (K - high school). If that is the case, they are placed in special education for academics and kept with their age group for grade level otherwise. So no, you are very very unlikely to have a 12 year old 3rd grader.

Those in authority were compassionate and reasonable enough to keep her child with her for the past year while working with her, however that seems to have failed, and they have taken the next available step to help the child. If she is not willing to work with them on this issue with her child in her home, perhaps having him taken away is best for all of them, so that his weight and health can be gotten under control, and so that his FAMILY can work on what they need to work on to help him.

Whistling, please note, authorities have been working with the mom for some time. My tuition says, family has access to food assistance. Mom dropped the ball here. If after a year, unable to provide a healthy diet is child abuse! Bet Mom is extremely obese herself.

It is very sad. But if this article is correct, the Ohio authorities have been working for over a year with the mother to solve the problem. And no results. At some point, when does it become abuse? I'd say a year would be a reasonable time. A year is long enough to gain "nutritional know how" and I suspect that the authorities would have made sure this mother had access to the appropriate foods. However it's much easier to stick a frozen pizza in the oven than it is to cut up veggies for a salad!

Even if this child loses weight in foster care, the fact that he was obese so early on will prove to be a lifetime problem for him.

Yes it's sad ... but it's the mother's fault.

I always have to wonder how many of these families who claim they "can't afford to eat healthy" manage to afford cable/satellite, a smartphone, fancy electronics, cigarettes, alcohol, designer clothes and shoes, a late model car, etc. It's not that they are too poor to afford healthy food, it's that they have severely misplaced spending priorities...

Give me a break you see the overweight Mom's buying junk food for their fat kids every day at the grocery store. My question is who would get the fat woman pregnant to begin with? He needs glasses and incarceration. Fat people cause their own problems, don't put it into your mouth and you will not be fat.

People who cannot afford to eat healthy do not have cable or smartphones or fancy electronics or designer clothes. This is a widely held, idiotic view of people who are poor. If you were interested in something other than your own ill-informed opinions, Crimson Wife, you might go and look up some information--in 2010, 30% of people who lived in areas where broadband was available chose not to have it. I guarantee that these people were not well-to-do.

It is always deeply annoying to have to deal with individuals who have no idea what they are talking about--I have a middle-class income. I cannot afford to eat "healthy foods" very often, and the "healthy foods" I eat are on sale and not all that healthy (I cannot afford lean meats or salmon). I do have Internet because I work via the Internet. I do not have a smartphone, I have a television that I purchased at 50% off and have not replaced for 6 years, I do not smoke, I do not drink, I buy my clothes at JCPenney at 75% off sale, I do not even have a car (we have two cars, both paid for, both are about 3-5 years old and were purchased to replace 15-year-old cars that had fallen apart).

The people who make even less than I do have even less than I do, and they live in food deserts where there are no fruits and vegetables in the stores. The main problem with people in the US is that they live in little enclaves of individuals who only see individuals of the same income level. People who are well-to-do have not a clue what they are talking about. They see a black person with a SmartPhone and think that the black person must be a poor person who bought a SmartPhone. You know--black people are middle and upper-middle class now. Just because you saw a black person with a SmartPhone and in designer clothes doesn't mean the person was a poor person who bought it--the person might be well-to-do, or the person might be a thief.

Even if you saw said black person using food stamps, it doesn't mean that person was poor: s/he might have been buying food for grandma or a poor relative, s/he might have been a criminal who had traded drugs for food stamps.

Seriously--can we stop the whole "I don't believe this because I have a rationalization that allows me to disbelieve everything I am told about how poor people live. There are no poor people--there are just people who make 'bad spending decisions' and 'choose' to be poor."

If.you.are.not.poor.then.you.do.not.know.what.being.poor.is.like.

Oh, and by the way, if your family income exceeds $75K, you aren't middle class. You are affluent. Also, you have a really bad case of Marie Antoinette syndrome.

The child should not have been taken from the parent. Children in foster care are virtually certain to be abused either physically or sexually--the longer they are in foster care, the surer this becomes. People who serve as foster parents tend to be (with some exceptions for those who are liberal do-gooders) either lazy people who make a "living" by taking in foster children and soaking up the money or conservative nutcases who can't get jobs and make a living taking in foster children and beat them to "help" them become "better" people. An obese child who is not being abused should not be taken from a parent unless his/her health is in imminent danger--and the child didn't sound any worse off than many children I saw as a child.

I would say that the child might be taken from the mother and put in the care of other family members who could get the foster care money to help--but I do not, absolutely do not, believe in placing children in foster homes unless there is no other option, and I think children should not be in such homes for any longer than absolutely necessary. I think that the number of foster care parents should be diminished so that only the good ones--the liberal evangelical do-gooders, for the most part--take care of children. Or, even better, I think that highly paid, degreed staff members should care for them in orphanages.

Our foster care system is Dickensian. Anyone who does not know this probably also thinks that poor people have money to purchase SmartPhones but are making "poor decisions." Or, they think that people get fat by eating too much. Hey, Keith--go look up the kind of food that poor people eat (Ramen, boxed mac&cheese, Vienna sausage, cheap peanut butter, and $1 menu burger and fries) do the math and find out just how many calories you will consume even if you are eating a "normal" amount. Ramen alone will put some serious weight on you very, very quickly.

3 lb bag of carrots = $2.00

1 large bag of Doritos $3.50

Eating healthy is only more expensive than eating crap if you shop for high-end products. Apples, bananas, yams, etc. are cheaper than process foods. Rice and beans are cheaper and healthier than ground beef. Quit propagating the myth that the poor can't help but to feed their kids Flaming Hot Cheetos.

I was a single parent who got food stamps when my child was under five years old. I managed to feed my child healthy food. It can be done. (For you conservative righties, I've been "tax payer" for 98% of my adult life.)

Very well said, I completely agree. Even as a working person who makes decent money, I find it difficult to purchase healthy foods for every meal. That doesn't mean I stock up on cookies and cakes because I don't buy anything like that. But processed, carbie foods, which are cheaper, do have their place in my family's diet. It is just not possible for me to provide quality meat and fresh veggies for every single meal. That said, I agree with you that far too many people vilify poor folks just for being poor. Not everyone can get a college degree, not everyone can get a high paying job. People can't eat great off food stamps, it's just that simple. They have to get the most bang for the buck. I'm not trying to defend the mother's food choices for her kids, but neither do I think her son should be taken away from her. Foster care is a horror for many thousands of children. It should be an absolute last resort. I think this situation has more to do with food addiction on the part of the child, and possibly on the part of the mother. The money paid to a foster family could be better spent putting this mom and her son in counseling.

Beanathome,

Exercise is FREE!!! Parks are FREE!!! Walking around the block is FREE!! So is going to the playground at his school!! I come from a very small logging community and the majority of my relatives areon some sort of welfare. Every single one of them has a big screen TV, a cell phone, and amazingly the women can use their food stamps with freshly manicured hands to pay for their junk food. Priorities....

Some of these posts are downright creepy they are so smug. Perhaps next the CPS will turn it eyes toward thin kids, as thin might just lead to anorexia and it's underlying future health issues. Or maybe they will start reviewing TV channels watched in homes to make sure the visual diets of kids are healthy. Then, how about spiritual well-being? Should that be subject to CPS's too? Children are not just a stomach, and they get more from a family enviornment than calories exclusively. Sheesh!

But, then again, the world is filled with hall monitors just aching to pass judgement on others

The circumstances of a child/children being removed from a home vary widely. And not all foster parents abuse the children or do it for the money. Some become certified foster parents so that they can hopefully adopt 'within' the system and some genuinely care about being available to those young ones that may find themselves in need of a safe and stable environment. whether on a short-term or long-term basis.

In fact, the child services departments have been under fire around here, more because of the number of children who HAVE been returned to their parents and were killed. Had those children been left with the foster parents, they would still be alive. The question that ALWAYS needs to be addressed is, "What is in the child's best interest now and in the future.?" Their life may very well depend on this being asked and answered correctly. It is not the time to gamble.

I should know as I turned in a family member who I wintessed shaking her 7 week old son. She also had plenty of other problems that have not helped her situation, such as being drunk, and on some very hefty drugs. The baby was placed with a family who were also certified foster parents. Hopefully, God willing, the state will allow them to adopt him. Sometimes these cases drag on forever and they shouldn't. How do I know? The 7 week old baby is my beautiful, wonderful, awesome grandson and the foster parents are my sister and her husband and daughter.

As for the child being obese, that is a health issue and needs to be addressed by doctors and such. All they can do is keep trying and as long as the child isn't in any immediate physical danger and the mother is able to 'care' for the boy, he should be at home and monitored often. Maybe it would be of benefit for all to receive some intensive counseling.

BEANATHOME: Here's another one I feel the need to tell off: yes.poor.people.can.get.healthy.food.even.if.only.at.food.banks. If you resent people who generalize that most people on assistance still have some luxuries like expensive phone, FAKE NAILS, Hair extensions, and buy macadamia nuts and $9.00 a pound steak with their food grants (yep, saw that one just last night in fact) you may begin to understand how much I resent your saying virtually all kids in foster care are abused!! how DARE you???? Were you ever in a foster home? Did you ever bother to BE one or are you too predjudiced, opinionated and uneducated to be considered???? I have fostered four children along with raising my own, and once many years ago as a very young single mother, had to ask the State for help with my daughter til I could get on my feet...she was in foster care for four months and has wonderful memories of it. So don't you dare attempt to say everyone who fosters abuses children.

Oh and by the way for all the people saying "oh the poor mommy didn't know about nutrition" has obviously never gone to a WIC evaluation...where you are asked in depth what you feed your kids, what you think an appropriate serving size is of a cereal, a protein, a carb and a vegetable or fruit (and yes they have plastic ones that look real so you can show them even if you can't measure or read). You are given hypothetical situations involving your child's nutrition, and given good strategies to deal with such things when they come up. They do this every six months at the minimum.

Oh yeah and beanathome, I'm not done with you yet: when I was raising my daughter alone, literally at times having to sleep on friends' sofas, guess what??? I knew to go to the foodbank and get fresh vegetables, oatmeal, eggs, and good proteins, and I knew how to cook them for her. She didn't go unbathed, she never went unfed and NEVER!!!! had to eat Top Ramen for a meal!!! But I sure saw the fatties rolling into the food bank too, and they never took the fresh onions, cucumbers, squash, and wouldn't even take the bread because it was french bread and they'd have to slice it. If it didn't come in a box or a can they didn't take it. So you tell me whose fault it is that those particular people are fat!!

And last but not least: if you are middle class and cannot afford to buy good healthy food you are overspending on something because it is cheaper to eat fresh, whole, and healthy than it ever is to buy processed foods. Go to Second Harvest and volunteer, they can teach you about nutrition and gleaning programs where you can put in volunteer time to help package over stocks of carrots, apples, corn, what have you, and in return you get some of the bounty. Instead of shooting your mouth off about stuff you absolutely know nothing about.

(and as evil as the child protective system is, I am pretty sure in the YEAR's time they've been TRYING to work with the MOTHER of that child, they first ascertained that the child didn't have a health issue causing the obesity.)

It is always deeply annoying to have to deal with individuals who have no idea what they are talking about--I have a middle-class income. I cannot afford to eat "healthy foods" very often, and the "healthy foods" I eat are on sale and not all that healthy (I cannot afford lean meats or salmon).

I call BS on this one!

If you have a middle class income, you CAN afford to eat "healthy foods"! A head of cabbage (great fiber) runs about 50 cents to $1. Red cabbage, only about 1/3 more that price. Lean beef costs MUCH less than the fattier (but pricier) cuts such as rib eye or strip.

You may not be able to afford salmon, but a can of tuna is 69 cents to $1. Our local grocery store has whole grain cereals such as Cheerios on sale $2.50 right now. Fresh fruit and veggies might be expensive, but frozen and canned ones are still very reasonably priced. Dried beans (even canned ones) are very cheap. Most grocery stores also discount meat when it's still perfectly good. Just freeze it if it's more than you need at the moment.

A sample meal: lean beef with broccoli over rice, made with cheap lean beef (marinated), frozen broccoli, an onion, and real (not Minute) rice. Meat - 1 pound, approx $4. 1 bag broccoli, $2. Onion, 50 cents. Rice, 50 cents. That's $7 and feeds 4. I'm sure that's affordable on a "middle class income". Serve ice tea or water, not soda, with it. Healthy and cheap. But then, you must actually go to the effort of cooking it

Beth you are great! I concur completely! I lived in a culturally diverse city for many years, and you can make so much more out of a piece of meat than a huge steak for one person...I take four oz of (VERY lean) beef, a pound of tofu, some green or white onions, four shrimp in shells for flavor, and kimchi base and make an amazing Korean staple stew....add a side of rice and feeds three for less than $3.00. My brother in law from southern Mexico could slice a steak up and create amazing dinners out of it with the best fresh ingredients, for next to nothing. Any "middle class" person who can't cook fresh and healthy cheaper is not doing something right.

Beth-440386 - I have no idea where you live, but I wish I lived there. I haven't seen food prices that low in years. I live in Mid-MD and lean ground beef (97/3) goes for about $5.00/lb...or I can get cheap ground beef (80/20) for about $3.50/lb. I haven't been able to afford steak for at least 7 years. A small can of tuna here costs about $1.50 (and that would be the store brand). A large can of tuna would be close to $4.00. I love grapes but can only afford to buy them when they are on sale....grapes (both seedless and seeded) sell for about $1.95/lb. You can buy Cheerios for $2.50? That is insane. A large box of Cheerio's costs over $4.00 here. A small box is about $3.00.

Do not assume that because food prices where you live are so cheap, that they are that inexpensive everywhere. Food prices in my area have almost doubled in the past 10 years. I have no idea what is considered middle class...but I make about $27,000/yr (after taxes, I bring home about $1400/mo). I am single and cannot afford even a one-bedroom apartment here. I rent a room for about $600/mo. After paying my bills, I have about $35-50/wk for groceries. It is next to impossible to eat a healthy diet on that budget. I am lucky to get fresh fruit even once every two or three months. Most of my diet consists of starch (as that is what is cheapest). I do NOT eat potato chips or corn chips, or other "chips".

As someone said before...you have to get the "most bang for your buck." I agree, but in a different way. I need the most filling food at the cheapest price. I have given up hope of ever again being able to afford to eat healthy. I can say...when I was raising my children (20 years ago), it was cheaper to eat healthy than to buy all the unhealthy crap. I fed my kids nothing but what is considered "health" food today because that was what was cheapest back then. If they got cookies, they were homemade but nowadays it's cheaper to buy them in a bag. I don't remember ever buying chips unless there was a family picnic going on. We just couldn't afford to buy all the snack-type foods. I have no idea how it has completely turned around.

Skirvich -- I got those tuna prices from an ad in Florida. Some of the other prices came from the mid-west. I simply went "shopping" off this week's ads available on line. The exception was the rice and onion, I buy in bulk and I "guesstimated" those prices. But I bet I wasn't off by more than 25 cents. Yes, those were SALE prices, but they were readily available and can be stocked up on.

Depending upon where you live, entire economies are different ... even within the U.S. ... higher rents, higher salaries, higher food and on the converse lower in other areas. Obviously $27000 isn't middle class where you live.

I live in Florida. The Wal-mart brand of tuna is .69 cents. We have a store here called Save - a - Lot and my dad got a bag of red delicious apples for $2.99. The pre-packed lettuce is $1.00. There Bumble Bee tuna is .88 cents. I know the bananas are cheapier but the orange juice is higher.

For the kid's sake, I hope it ends up being less.

Bailey - I agree with you. This can turn into a slippery slope. If overfeeding a child is abuse, isn't not helping them with their schoolwork also abuse? Shouldn't we take children away from parents who don't work toward ensuring their children have a good education from which to start life? Isn't that abuse too? So many things could be considered abuse that it's frightening where this might go. However, as noted, I do agree -- what else could they do since they'd been working with the mother for a year and there was no change?

The article only states that CPS was "working with the mother" for a year. We have no idea what that "work" involved. For all we know she was required to take him to social services once a month so they could weigh the child to see if he had lost any weight. For all we know, monitoring his weight and threats to the mother were the only type of work done by CPS. I just think there are better ways to help this family than to put this boy in foster care. Foster parents receive $400 per month or more per child to take care of them. Since tax dollars are paying for foster care, I think the money is better spent putting the mother and child into nutritional counseling and food addiction counseling. If tax dollars are paying for it anyway, pay for the help that might allow this child and his mom to stay together.

As a foster parent this is pis..ng me off..for one thing, foster parents (generally) are not out for money for taking these children in need into our homes. If I was in it for money, I would have quit or never started taking children many years ago. The pay stinks, the money we do get for these children feed them, clothe them, pay for them to have the little extra such as 60.00 fee for t-ball, 6wks of tap,tumbling,or dance classes so they can do the same things as their peers. If you have ever checked into the cost of daycare for just one child, the amount a foster parent recieves per month does not even cover what a daycare provider charges for a week of watching your child for aprox 9 hours per day. If I didnt care about the well being of children in general, I would have opened daycare for 10 hrs a day and made more money than I do for having these children 24 hours a day 7 days per week. That being said, I do realize there are lousy foster homes also, just wanted to throw a view of a foster parent who DOES care about the children who come into my home.

i have to say you are the rare exception!!!! because my grandchildren have been sexually and physically abused. they are just babies and they have been moved at least 6 times. The oldest is old enough to know what is happening, he has attempted suicide twice. He is heavily medicated to keep him calm. My god what is wrong with this picture. It is an absolute disgrace to abuse children like this. Is this in the children's best interest?

Well, Sheri-3511319, I know for a fact that 75% of the people that foster kids wouldn't do it if they didn't get the cash the government pays them. If the government just gave them a food voucher, clothing voucher, and health insurance for the child, most people wouldn't do it. You can't compare what foster parents are doing to what a daycare gets paid because being a foster parent shouldn't be like a business that makes a profit. That's why they are called foster PARENTS. They agree to be substitute parents for these misplaced children out of the goodness of their heart, not for the goodness of their bank account. Reading all these people passing judgement on someone they don't know is sickening. Nobody knows the situation so you can'y know the heart of the situation without walking a mile in her shoes. You all spout your hatred about abuse and blah, blah, blah but you don't really know. The emotional trauma the child will suffer from being ripped from his mother will likely cause depression and depression can cause overeating. Oh, unless the foster parent starves the child which is a form of abuse. Child protection services in some places has gotten so zealous that they overlook the true welfare of the child. That is what they are supposed to be getting paid for, looking out for the children. The money the state spent on paying a foster "parent" could have been better spent providing the mother and child with nutrition and fitness classes to better educate them on a healthy lifestyle. Some people should get off their self-righteous high horses and quit judging people. Hopefully none of you don't have to face a negative situation where everyone jumps to conclusions to judge any of you without knowing, right?

I know for a fact that 75% of the people that foster kids wouldn't do it if they didn't get the cash the government pays them.

justmy2cents, you know no such fact. You obviously have a problem with the foster care system for reasons unknown but hyperbole and outright lying does your no good. Opinions are not facts, neither are anecdotes.

Justmy2cents: if you know for a FACT that at least 75% of foster parents are in it for the money, does that mean you KNOW 75% of the foster parents in this country? Or are we talking the whole world here? I'm just trying to figure out just how important you really are so I know how to address you.

Sherri, HEAR HEAR!!! I am in the same frame of mind....some of the good folks here have never been within screaming distance of what the children generally have been through to end up with us getting that call to come bring that child home, and obviously don't know what it costs to properly house and clothe a child...And then you have idiots making up imaginary grandkids that are being systematically beaten and sexually abused while the poor parents (and extended family that was also obviously determined to be unfit to care for the kids) struggle to get by in a cruel system that considers crack houses or cardboard boxes to be inappropriate places to raise children. The only time I had kids move on from my home was when they were able to go home, (which often was waaaaaay before they should have and it was terrifying for me) or they chose to go to a different home because they refused to go to church with the rest of the family, help clean or learn to cook or whatever. We always worked it out though and I am still in touch with three out of four of them, they are happy and well-adjusted adults, and one fosters children now herself for a relative. I'm proud of them all and glad that I was able to do the very little effort it took to provide a safety net for these at-risk kids.

200 pounds at 8... The kid's never going to know how a normal child feels when they run, play tag, climb trees or hang upside down from the monkey bars. That kind of weight on a skeletal system that's still developing and not made to carry it is sure to cause problems, both with the bones and the organs. Poor kid.

Most overweight kids I see at school, and none are this overweight, do not play with the other kids at recess and PE, in fact it is a struggle to get them to do any kind of activity. Often, they are lethargic in class, too. That being said, in most cases I would advocate educating the parent rather than removal. However, they have apparently been working with mom for a year here. And this is a severe case and she is not follwing doctor's directions. Look at it like refusal to treat any other disease, refusing a diabetic child insulin or an asthmatic child their inhaler, and you can see the justification. Maybe this child needs a while in the care of someone witth the ability and willpower to keep his on a healthy diet of healthy proportions, and the ability to make him get some physical activity which as I said is often a struggle, and who is willing to keep all junk foods away from him. Even if he doesn't have diseases like diabetes (II) or other obesty diseases yet, this is not just "baby fat," or a kid that will slim up at puberty, or just a little overweight.

@ THX,

Yes, and when they run, play tag, climb trees or hang upside down from monkey bars and get injured, there is another case# for the cps

The other option is do away with Medicaid and let them die if they don't have private insurance. Many, if not all, taxpayers are FED UP with stories like this taking the taxpayers hard earned funds (and preventing them from affording health insurance themselves) as am I.

When a parents actions lead to almost certain premature death down the road, I would call it abuse. 200 lbs. is absolutely ridiculous for a 3rd grader. Parents do not have a license to do what ever they choose to their kids. Being a parent is by no means a constitutional guaranteed right. The government has to act in cases like these, because the kids themselves do not have the means or the capacity to know what is best for themselves.

I feel bad for the kid. I come from a fat family. Maybe the kid needs medical help. But whatever he needs it shouldn't involve government bureaucracy. It seems we have lost many of our freedoms and losing more day by day. For some reason people now feel they need the government to control every aspect of their lives. There will probably be a handful of responses to this comment justifying why we need a big brother government to take care of us. Stupidity should top the list. Government is like snow ball rolling down hill, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. As government control of the people grows, we lose more freedoms and our taxes skyrocket to pay for all of it. We need to stop the insanity.

If you are on welfare or getting food stamps too bad....If you don't pay for your own health insurance and expect the government to pay with our tax dollars to supply your future diabetic kid with medicaid/free medical care TOO BAD.

YOU DON'T FEED AT THE GOVERNMENT TROUGH WITHOUT RULES

Big brother is us we the tax payers want accountability for our money...

Proper body to fat ratio isn't anywhere near a eight year old at two hundred pounds. who do you think is going to pay for his lifelong care and medical treatment? do you really think he will be leading a normal life at this weight or when he is 600 pounds at adulthood. maybe you think the state should just stand by and let him die because of this mother's stupidity.

I agree with you most of the time but not when it comes to children. Children deserve our protection when their parents are stupid or misguided.

people who have not experienced government abuse don't realize how serious this issue is. Those of you who sit in judgement of this mother should be ashamed. I will pray that you never find yourself in this kind of situation. No worry, god has his way of humbling people.

Julia, I hope myself that my child is never in a situation where he weighs 200+ lbs before he turns a decade old. There are either some serious health issues that need to be dealt with, or the mother is not fulfilling her duty as a mother to provide for a healthy, educational, and loving environment (or fatherly).

james you are over simplifying. Obesity is different than a chubby kid, and that kid is 200% OVER the level considered to be morbidly obese. At that point if the mom isn't willing to learn and be taught, then someone else has to step in. Would you prefer the kid to grow up and have a massive stroke at 25? this isn't just a kid who gets a donut sent in his lunch once a week. This kid is being overfed and fed incorrectly, period. And it is willful on the part of the parent or the kid would still be home.

Oh and in case you're serious and want to know, my BMI is about 12%, I can stack 120 pound bales of hay over my head and can walk for miles, but prefer to ride my horses. I am over 50 and until two years ago was well over 200 lbs. I got sick of it and decided to change---I got back into horses, lost the food sales job, and spend a minimum of six hours a day outdoors no matter what the weather (and I'm in North Idaho so that's no joke :-) ) I'm not bragging of course, I'm just saying that no one is saying starve the kid, but they need fresh air, exercise, and good nutrition all together to make a difference. And if she's not willing to make those changes, then someone has to step in.

I agree with you!

Again, sure the family has assistance with such things as food. As a taxpayer, I'm sick to my stomach of having my tax dollars and being an accomplice to such child abuse!

Letting a child get this fat is abuse in my book. Aside from the numerous health problem that result from it, the child no doubt gets teased unmercifully by other kids (kids are cruel). What kind of self-image does this child have? I have the feeling that this action by authorities was a last resort since the mother was not coopering. It's ironic that in a country where a good number of people go hungry, you come across things like this.

As a compassionate nation that helps those who can't help themselves, it is our duty to take care of children who are being abused or neglected. Having an 8 year old child who weighs more than a fully grown adult man should weigh is neglect. Family services worked with this child's mother for a year, and she couldn't help him get down to a reasonable weight. I don't think that every child who is overweight should be taken away from their parents, but this was an unhealthy child who deserves better.

Let him stay with the family. But don't use my tax money to support him. How much has the state already paid to try and help these people? no dou8bt he is already getting a government subsidy. What's next? Put him on a Social Security disability because he is totally nonfunctional in adult life.

It's not the state or the country's job to raise our children for us

No, just to pay for it for the rest of their lives. Let's ignore the problem until, he becomes totally dependant on government entitlements. that makes much more sense.

Obesity in a child is child abuse. No matter if the child accomplishes proper weight and nutrition they will have a life time of problems because of the childhood obesity.

Getting bad grades won't kill you or even make you sick. Being morbidly obese will.

Just addressing the comments about our tax dollars and how we'll support him as he gets fatter. Who do you think pays for the majority of foster care?

R. Scalzo: Do you really want to live in a country where we don't help those that can't help themselves? I hope you don't call yourself a Christian with that attitude.

You took the words right out of my mouth THX.

I'm torn on how I feel about this, I'm leaning toward agreeing with CPS for taking him, but it should be limited to only extreme cases like this one is.

So if the child dies of a sudden stroke or heart attack, is it then considered abuse? How many on here would be screaming and complaining that child services didn't step in or take the child away? Why wait until a child is dead before you call it what it is - ABUSE! While I agree that we need to be careful about where that "line" is between abuse and taking away our freedoms, I don't think a child should have to die first before action is taken. Childhood obesity is a problem but a 200 pound 3rd grader whose mother has been given help and opportunity for over a year with no improvement, is on a totally different level.

Why wait until a child is dead before you call it what it is - ABUSE!

Karen, I'm reminded of the story of a 400 lb teen girl who died as a result of her obesity. Of course, everyone was shouting about how it was abuse and how the girl should have been taken out of her home long before she got there.

What other people may also have forgotten is hygiene. The 400 lb. girl had feces in the folds of her skin. I wonder how badly this 200 lb. kid stank.

I work with kids that age. I am pretty short, but I have yet to meet an 8 year old that I don't have a few inches on. And I would be pretty seriously obese at 200 pounds!

If a kid simply is fitting in chubby jeans, I would be the first to oppose this. 8 year olds who weigh 100 pounds are overweight. But 200 pounds at age 8? That needs intervention, and if mom won't, then someone needs to step in and help this child.

xlifelinex---kids don't die from poor grades but they do from obesity and obesity-related illnesses and diseases. Not even remotely the same thing.

And the taxpayers will be paying the bills. Come ON Man!!!!

bob5ford -- I assume you are rolling in dough and will never need social security or medicare and have the best health insurance money can buy. You probably also claim you're a christian. I don't believe in all this biblical nonsense, but I do believe that as human beings, we should help those less fortunate. That doesn't mean that I believe in nilly-willy govt handouts or people procreating indiscriminately in order to collect welfare, but for those who sincerely try and don't take advantage of the system, I have no objection to some help when the need is great. In this instance, I have no idea what the case may be, but let's withhold judgment until all the facts are in.

Funny I never heard of kids this size in the 60s or 70s...this is a new phenomena. This poor kid is going to have life long problems with health and weight, once the fat cells are there, they are there for life. Hopefully he gets to be over 6 feet tall to compensate. The government really has no choice, but to remove this child from the home.

Things that can effect weight are:

adrenal conditions

cushings syndrome

metabolic x syndrome

diabetes

medications for conditions such as: asthma, pituitary mass,adrenal conditions, any condition that requires steriods like prednizone

Depression

hypoglycemia

Yes I am in the medical field

mtk05,

None of those things would cause a child to gain that amount of weight while eating a normal diet. And your list is a bit off, diabetes is a wasting disease...just ask anybody with Type I Diabetes Mellitus. If you are in the medical field you should know that (and maybe take a refresher course...).

I have hashimotos hypothyroidism. It causes weight gain as I well know, but not anywhere near this much. I also work with 8 year olds. The average 8 year old does not weigh 100 pounds yet. This is more than double normal weight. It is more like an adult being 500 pounds.

I have had kids on asthma medications, and a lot of the kids I work with are on asthma meds, have yet to see any kids with significant weight gain from them, most have none.

I suspect the rest of the things on your list are also not things that would cause this extreme weight gain, but since I'm not in the medical field I'll only comment on the ones I know firsthand.

mtko5----how many eight year old children have you treated with Cushings? I'm just asking...oh and Cushing's IS caused by a pituitary tumor, are you sure you're in the medical field and maybe didn't just google some stuff? You mentioned it twice....also forgot part of the verbiage that was supposed to go with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, we'd love to know what it was if you can still cut and paste it in.

And by the way, the state would have thoroughly checked for metabolic or other physical issues (as well as mental ones) that would have caused the weight gain before removing the child. Nobody likes to get sued.

Corticosteroids can cause some edema and weight gain....not 200+ lbs of it in a child.

You spelled steroids wrong. That would have cost you some points in med school.

@mtko5,

I would LOVE to know what "medical field" you are in. I suspect "way out in Left Field" maybe. Either you received Very Poor Medical Training, or you looked everything up on Google and guessed at the rest.

Thanks Marine Doc from a M.A.S.H. Doc, for the "Corrective hand upside the head".

Never tried the ''get off your ass" diet I take it? It works for everybody, without exception. (Unless they're quadriplegic or similar)

Are you seriously actually sticking up for this abuse??? Really??? a TWO HUNDRED POUND 8 year old and you don't see a problem with that?

I know that I was a very heavy child and was the least abused human on the planet. Just because this child failed to lose weight does NOT mean this child was abused.

Also, not all fat people take crap off people who think it is in any way appropriate to tell a stranger to get off their ass. Not only is the rude and ridiculous, my dieting history is absolutely nobody's business but my own. If you have some sort of issue with large people, that is your own issue. It has nothing to do with me.

The point I make is this, not all heavy children are being overfed or abused. Some heavy children sneak food and I had a friend who had parents who had to resort to PADLOCKING THE CABINETS to keep their child out of the food.

I'm failing to see how adding abandonment to this child's problem is going to fix the child's weight issue.

"Also, not all fat people take crap off people who think it is in any way appropriate to tell a stranger to get off their ass."

As a matter of fact it is quite appropriate to comment in that regard. You were complaining about how many diets you had tried - without ONCE mentioning a single bit of calorie burning activity.

Dieting doesn't work without exercise. EVER. Even if you think it worked, it's only short term gains, and almost every single person will regain it.

Exercise, on the other hand, allows even a morbidly obese person to raise their metabolic rate, which allows them to burn those calories they so desperately need to shed.

Remember, if you go on a crash diet, you're causing some of the more primitive survival part of the body to kick in and your body will lower its caloric usage to 'conserve energy'. The problem is that you cannot easily undo that. One we know more about how DNA interons (the programming code for the computer program that DNA really is) function, I bet we will see that it has to do with gene activation - and that some of those genes do not naturally turn off. If somebody could find the right chemical to switch them all to the 'burn fat' option perhaps there could be an 'easy weight loss' method.

For now, however, the ONLY thing that works is to exercise... in short - "get off your ass".

Don't be offended that somebody would make sure that you're aware of the simple truth... diets don't work without exercise. They're not even a placebo.

"The point I make is this, not all heavy children are being overfed or abused"

Read the article again... CPS had been working with the mother for over a year and she refused to follow doctor's instructions in regard to the kid's diet. She allowed him to get to THREE TIMES the normal weight of somebody that age. Yes, that IS abuse. Ignoring the instructions of a doctor, and having to have CPS spend a year worth of time (and tax dollars) and yet you ignore what they have to say - or are too weak willed to lock your cabinets if the kid is sneaking food... or simpler yet - limit how much you have around the house, and limit the amount of cash he can have so he can't go to the gas station and buy a bunch of snack foods. Her lifestyle needed to revolve around getting his weight under control and she failed miserably. That is abuse. /shrug

Exactly. The child is alot heavier than a child should be at that age for his health but we don't know the whole story. If we allow the state to start policing our childs diet, what is next? I think the average parent, regardless of social status, does try to get their children to eat healthy(And we know how difficult that can be sometimes) but I think alot of the problem of our children being heavier nowadays has more to do with inactivity than diet. Probably due to increased video game/ computer usage. Yeah, I know, you're all gonna say,"Get them off the computer/video games" but unfortunately, most parents have so much on their plate, they don't have a tremendous amount of time. By the time they get home from work, they have to cook dinner, get household chores done, etc. We sometimes allow the use of these devices to keep our children occupied while we do these things. It's not that safe to send your kids outside to play unsupervised these days with all the pedophiles there are anymore. But look out, all you smokers, allowing this could lead to them policing other things like trying to prove your smoking is causing your child's asthma or whatever and they'll be coming for your kids next. It's kinda sad the way the CPS doesn't seem to value the family unit much anymore. :(

justmy2cents: ummm, smoking around kids CAN cause and/or aggravate childhood asthma. Not to mention contribute to ear infections and lower their overall immune systems.

You know, before the advent of TV (don't even have to mention computers and games, etc) people worked a lot more hours in the day then they do now, and the kids were expected to help as much as they were able. There was still some playtime but it was physical play, outdoor activities and so on.

In this day and age I agree with not sending children out unsupervised, so how about the parents getting off their rears and going out to toss a ball, go for a bike ride, or play hula-hoop? all three of those things are free, doesn't cost a penny, and you'll have some time together as a family. Nothing wrong with that, even if it does cut into the NFL or the stupid reality shows.

Am I the only one here who isn't pissed at my state? :-)

I'm am fully versed in nutrition, have studied various methods of weight loss, have tried every diet and exercise program on the planet and have struggled with my weight my entire life. I've successfully lost weight and have been unsuccessful in keeping it off. That's because being obese for a lifetime is a much more complex problem than calories in and calories out. It's a physiological constant NEED to eat.

I do believe there are people who are heavy to various degrees for different reasons, but a kid this heavy at this age is likely sneaking food. It's very hard to stop.

Mom can do whatever she wants with the kid. Justy don't ask for government assistance down the road when the health issues pop up.

WO: It is a law that kids need to wear a bike helmet, so the parents can be cited if the kid isn't wearing one.

Parents who smoke in the same car or room as little developing lungs should be flogged, or at least slowly asphyxiated.

Kids don't sit too close to tvs anymore, they're finally big enough (the tvs, not the kids). Nor do they give off a tenth of the electromagnetic pulse radiation that used to be an issue. So not exactly the same thing, is it?

If her child was in 3rd grade and 20 lbs, everyone would be screaming to have the child taken away.

QFT. You're so right. I don't know why so many people can't see that a 200 pound 8 year old is in as much danger as a 20 pound one.

I'm just guessing, but probably the mom is a big fat ass, too.

They worked with he for a year. Mom's probably just as clueless.

ummm you pay for the nutritionist for her. Don't goo spending my dime because she can't take the time to learn how to care for her child.

8 yrs old and grossly obese. We don't know if the mother is obese or not, although others have made inference that she is.

No mention of the father anywhere in the story.

could the over feeding and apparent lack of attempt to control the child's food intake be a psychological problem/issue?

Perhaps the mother was abandoned by the father. A lot of people turn to food for comfort. She may have turned to food, but in her case she may have unknowingly enlisted her son to commiserate with her.

In any case, I agree with some of the assumptions made by others:

1. CPS worked with her for a year. (most social workers do educate. This is what they studied in school and most have the type of personality that predisposes them to help any and all they can)

2. 200 lbs is not neglect. Neglect would be an 80-100lb 8 yr old child. Neglect is not checking on what your child is eating. This is way beyond neglect. An 8 yr old child in a normal household kitchen by themselves, would not eat themselves to 200. Even if you stocked the pantry every week with normal amounts of food for a family of 2, the normal activity level of children would counteract healthy food intake.

In this case, it does seem the mother was an enabler.

for those who think the government may be over reaching...... well then maybe if we didn't have food stamp programs, medicaid and other subsidy entitlements, the government wouldn't have to get involved in cases such as this one.

Derp: kids study nutrition every single year in school as part of the health/gym requirement.

Wow, I hope you don't smoke or drink then maybe one could say you are overreaching by being allowed to breed as you might possibly pass your disgusting unhealthy habits down to your child. Why don't you stop being a judgemental arse unless you are close enough to the situation to really know what's going on. It's kinda sad to read all the hatred some people deal out in these comment posts. Why don't you try having a little compassion for the child being ripped from his mothers arms. Or better yet, maybe you'll be thrown into a negative situation that everyone judges you for when they don't know the whole story so you can see what it feels like to be on the receiving end of all the venomous judgemental hatred.

I would rather have compassion for the child when he's being resuscitated on a floor somewhere when he suffers a massive stroke or heart attack due to morbid obesity and arteriosclerosis.

And they don't actually rip kids from their mother's arms, especially when they're too large to lift. It's not the Wizard of Oz up in here.