Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care

[mrsu]

I just want to chime in here and say that Prader Willi Syndrome is not a metabolic disorder, it's a genetic condition. Therefore, if this child was tested for metabolic conditions PWS would not show. The diagnosis for PWS requires DNA testing, and sometimes complex DNA testing.

My daughter was born with PWS. She is 6.5 years old. She is healthy, slim, and thriving and I know I may be sensitive, but I take offense to someone saying it's a "horrible syndrome". :/

I hope this guy will get the appropriate testing so PWS can be ruled out.

 

[krimekat]

I understand what you are saying. I really do.
It does not answer the question, though. There is no one left to help these people...except for the government to step in.

Government agencies stepping in and giving us a hand are nothing new.
We have (to name just a very few):

United States Department of Agriculture which funds our public school lunch programs - and I assume already "helping"
Dept. of Education which funds & administers our public schools - and I assume already "helping"
Depart. of Energy I'm with TX Gov Perry - what do they do?

and for our protection:

The Department of Defense nothing to do with this specific incident
The Department of Homeland Security nothing to do with this specific incident

for our Veterans:
Department of Veterans Affairs nothing to do with this specific incident

So....I really don't understand why them stepping in and giving this family a hand is an issue.

Are there problems within any of these departments? Of course there are....as there are in any large corporation, private or public. But they also do their share of good.

my comments in red above

Oh_gal - respectfully, why should OUR gov't reign over OUR lives? Aren't we free? Apparently not - Declaration of Independence down the drain.

:whiteflag: I see we will agree to disagree with the level of gov't control we require in OUR lives. Respectfully . . .

If IL takes lead with OH on this case, DCFS will be even more bogged down with issues . . . how about MI & AL where the obesity rate is off the charts? Should we really expend the revenue for this ?

From the sage Ronald Reagan in his 1st Inaugural address: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."

Okay, I am done with this issue . . . sorry for that family & the gov't controlling how they raise their children

 

[Linda7NJ]

It sounds like the family have also been involved in a nutrition program to no avail

The family was enrolled in a nutrition program through Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Riteout said.

"(The) situation did not improve. The medical concerns remained serious," Riteout explained.

I wonder if the parent(s) just thought that nothing would happen if the child didn't lose weight and this is a last ditch effort to save him. Sleep apnea at 8? My goodness!

I really hope he is able to lose weight. I imagine that CFS is putting him somewhere to determine if he's able to lose weight, and if the problem remains at home. If he loses weight and goes home and gains it back, then that's pretty clear cut it's a family problem. I hope it doesn't end that way.

MOO

Mel

IIRC up thread is a link to a story where he has already begun to lose weight in his new placement

 

[oh_gal]

my comments in red above

Oh_gal - respectfully, why should OUR gov't reign over OUR lives? Aren't we free? Apparently not - Declaration of Independence down the drain.

(snipped by me)

KK --

Just as an aside, you noted that some of the government agencies I listed had nothing to do with this case. I realize that, as I realized it when I typed it. I was not trying to list government agencies that dealt only with this issue, but government agencies in general, and how they step in to help in various facets of our society. Hope that clears it up.

I can sense you're not happy with the way our government is governing. The question then becomes: what are you doing about it? Anyone can complain.

Perhaps I'm just a little sensitive, because I"ve got family members laying down their lives for every single person in this country, every single day, for people to have all the rights they're entitled to, even the right to complain about the government. But it sure does burn this Mom's ears.

 

[krimekat]

my comments in red above

Oh_gal - respectfully, why should OUR gov't reign over OUR lives? Aren't we free? Apparently not - Declaration of Independence down the drain.

(snipped by me)

KK --

Just as an aside, you noted that some of the government agencies I listed had nothing to do with this case. I realize that, as I realized it when I typed it. I was not trying to list government agencies that dealt only with this issue, but government agencies in general, and how they step in to help in various facets of our society. Hope that clears it up.

I can sense you're not happy with the way our government is governing. The question then becomes: what are you doing about it? Anyone can complain.

Perhaps I'm just a little sensitive, because I"ve got family members laying down their lives for every single person in this country, every single day, for people to have all the rights they're entitled to, even the right to complain about the government. But it sure does burn this Mom's ears.

Came back to respond: I get that you just noted gov't programs that COULD help, but do they? Will they? Our current Congress is so feckless with the blinded POTUS -- they will/can do nothing.

What am I doing about how our government is governing, you ask?

#1 I vote.
#2 I am vocal in my community. I have many friends working to better the StL community . . .
#3 I am a CASA volunteer (in addition to my FT job) helping to place children in successful foster families in our City & County.
#4 I have chosen not to "breed" freely like the majority of Americans

. . . so I guess I am doing my part.

Oh, and

#5 I pay taxes ! Since I have no EIC, I pay a LOT of taxes !

and I, too, have family members in the military & LE laying their lives on the line for Americans . . . we are all disillusioned to how it is playing out.

 

[oh_gal]

Don't mind me....I'm just off to breed freely....

 

[Linda7NJ]

Came back to respond: I get that you just noted gov't programs that COULD help, but do they? Will they? Our current Congress is so feckless with the blinded POTUS -- they will/can do nothing.

What am I doing about how our government is governing, you ask?

#1 I vote.
#2 I am vocal in my community. I have many friends working to better the StL community . . .
#3 I am a CASA volunteer (in addition to my FT job) helping to place children in successful foster families in our City & County.
#4 I have chosen not to "breed" freely likely the majority of Americans

. . . so I guess I am doing my part.

Oh, and

#5 I pay taxes ! Since I have no EIC, I pay a LOT of taxes !

and I, too, have family members in the military & LE laying their lives on the line for Americans . . . we are all disillusioned to how it is playing out.

I don't understand why you're a CASA if you are so against government interference:waitasec: ??

I worked as a CASA for close to 15 years, and never once did my job entail finding foster homes for children.
I was a DYFS social worker for 2 years, and I was a therapeutic foster parent for a private agency another 9 years. I can tell you the system is far from perfect but it's desperately needed.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Don't mind me....I'm just off to breed freely....

:floorlaugh::floorlaugh: I'm just gonna practice

 

[Chewy]

I think we're talking past each other a bit. Based on your comment upthread, you said that after eating a proscribed portion, you must stop eating, even if you are hungry.

My counter to that was that hunger cues are there for a reason. It's one thing to eat slowly, pause for a while, or have a glass of water to see if you are still hungry. I'm not advocating shoveling food in until you feel bloated, by any means.

Now, you're advocating pretty much the same thing - water, celery, waiting, etc. I'm not sure if that's what you meant before and it was just worded in a way that wasn't clear, but I think we're actually not far from saying the same thing, just in different ways.

However, the manner in which parents teach their children about food is what determines whether a child is a mindful eater or develops disordered thinking about food. It's not "mindful" to teach children that their body's natural cues cannot be trusted.

I agree with some of what you say. But I totally disagree that kids should be taught to go by their body's natural cues. What about sex then? You get the urge and you better go through with it?

Portion sizes are not to be regimented but just because you are hungry doesn't mean you keep eating until you are full.

I've pointed out several times that the body doesn't register FULL until 20 minutes after being full. Of COURSE you need to teach your kids that, otherwise they wind up with belly aches.

Also cravings are not the same as hunger. Body's natural "cue" say I want chocolate cake, of COURSE you need to teach your kids that they need to have self control.

I'm sure that's not what you meant but I really don't understand your point.

FEELING hungry is not the same thing as being hungry. Try to read that link I posted, they explain it pretty well.

 

[krimekat]

Don't mind me....I'm just off to breed freely....

Lucky you !!! :woohoo:

Thanks for the banter! No snarky intended - I love how we all have different views. I love how "your views" help me with "my views". That's the awesomeness of WS

I'm sad that an 8 year old has to weigh 200 lbs. Can you imagine walking around with all that extra weight & trying to breathe or keep up with your friends?

I have personal experience with nephews who were WAY over weight due to sedentary lifestyle & poor eating habits -- I just took it upon myself, took my Sis & BIL carp about it, and help my nephews treat their body right.

Nobody taught me how to take care of myself beyond what my parents showed me, I sought it out. Otherwise, I would be obese & sitting on the sofa watching TV. It is a lifestyle & a conscious decision. I cannot tell you the last time I ate fast food -- it's just not something I CHOOSE to do. I stopped drinking soda & lost 20 lbs. How great is that!

Here's another argument, who's gonna pay for his healthcare bills?

Sorry, PEACE OUT!

:kiss:

 

[lg25]

An 8 year old boy should stand about 48-50in tall, and weigh about 62lbs. An adult male standing 6ft 1in is considered very overweight at 201lbs.

This child is not just overweight, he is morbidly obese!!

I have noticed that the very overweight eat very, very fast. The amount of food on each forkfull is about double (or more) than what others have on their forks. It's like they have to finish that plate in 2 minutes flat, or someone is going to steal it. Slow down! Eat small forkfulls, and chew completely. It really does make a difference!

 

[krimekat]

I don't understand why you're a CASA if you are so against government interference:waitasec: ??

I worked as a CASA for close to 15 years, and never once did my job entail finding foster homes for children.
I was a DYFS social worker for 2 years, and I was a therapeutic foster parent for a private agency another 9 years. I can tell you the system is far from perfect but it's desperately needed.

because StL has the NEED & I have the time . . .

It's not MY JOB -- it's me helping to find these kids viable placement. I do not get paid & it's typically working way late into the night, on Sat & Sun, & being with frightened kids from time to time for NOTHING.

I work in Healthcare IT & make bank! I don't NEED to help, I just DO!

 

[krimekat]

:floorlaugh::floorlaugh: I'm just gonna practice

even better !!!

 

[oh_gal]

...buncha kooks...

:grouphug:

Back to matters at hand...I'm glad he's losing some of the weight; hope he'll be home soon.

 

[not_my_kids]

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=8446740
To get back to the subject at hand, this article says that even though an average 8 year old is 60 pounds, and 200 (which is likely a rounded number, either up or down) is severely obese, a target weight of 150 would help him with the sleep apnea (if in fact that SA is related to his weight, which it might or might not be. But that is still nearly double what he should weigh, so those medical issues which could arise later would still be at nearly the same risk of occurring.

In fact, how are they sure the weight is causing the apnea, as emerging studies are showing a reverse link, that people with sleep apnea of more than 15 episodes a night are more likely to be obese.


and
Some of those children appear to have the deck stacked against them genetically, she says. "They are resistant to treatment. I've seen it. Parents can be doing everything correctly, and the child's weight won't budge. It may be virtually impossible for the kids to resist food. They are constantly putting food in their mouth to feel satiated.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/288563/28/Its-an-uphill-climb-for-obese-kids-and-their-parents

So, watch it, because before long, the state could be stepping in to take children over genetic anomalies that parents have absolutely no control over and neither does the child.


and

For more than 20 months, the county officials have been working with the boy’s family so they could bring down his weight and improve his health but, they could not and blamed his mother for it.
http://topnews.net.nz/content/220409-mother-wants-200-pound-son-s-custody-back
Yeah, if they were all working together, didn't they all fail? The county as well as the parents? So, why does the country get to take him when they failed just as hard as the family?

 

[LunaticFringe]

Do we know what his family members weigh and what their eating habits are?That says a lot to me.What is their daily lifestyle like?

I have posted this before but it seems to me when you see obese children one or both or the parents are.They are the ones who need to change and help their child.

Mom cannot be sucking back a double cheese burger in the kitchen while she feeds her child a tuna on whole wheat with carrot sticks on the side.She needs to eat the same thing along with her child.She's the teacher and the provider.Just my opinion.

 

[Lori_TX]

I just have to say this - growing up, I never had an issue with weight. However, at 11 years old I weighed 112 lbs and was 5'4" tall. When I graduated high school I was 5'5" tall and 115. I have always been active, and conscious about what I eat. When I was 23, I started to gain weight very rapidly. No matter what I did, I just kept gaining. I was exhausted, had achy joints, and felt like I was 100. It turns out, I had a thyroid disorder. It was NOT caused by obesity, but it was what caused the rapid gain and inability to lose. Thyroid disease is not always a result of being overweight. It can be a genetic factor, and it can cause the weight gain. Not only this, but weak joints are also not always a side effect of being overweight. Joint problems run in my family. In addition to genetics, I was a gymnast my entire life - until 20. I was diagnosed with arthritis at 17, tendonitis at 12, and bursitis in my hip at 27. I understand that obesity can cause thyroid problems and weak joints, but sometimes there's more to it than that.

My brother was always considered overweight as a child, and he was extremely active in every sport all year long. My parents began to restrict his eating because our football program had weight limits for the elementary age kids. When his eating and weight were pointed out and monitored, he began a cycle of binge eating in the middle of the night. He would sneak food at any opportunity. When he reached high school, and was on the wrestling team as well as football, he began binging and purging AND compulsively exercising. He lost a significant amount of weight during wrestling and would then gain a bunch for football. He's 6'4" and was an offensive lineman so being big was part of his role on the team. He actually went to college on a football scholarship, and was a freshman starter - weighing in at 270 lbs. Unfortunately, he broke his back early in the first season. It was not severe, and he was able to recover from it, but was out of football for the year. He then chose to join the Army, got down to 200 during training and went to Iraq, where he ran weekly 10k and multiple marathons. Halfway through deployment, he came home due to degenerative joint disease - at the age of 22.

My father has had double hip replacement and he is 49 years old.

My point is that growing up in the same environment, we had very different issues with our eating and weight. We BOTH have joint problems and we BOTH had weight issues that were caused by very different reasons. Sometimes there is WAY more than just "calories in, calories out" involved.

I now have a 9 year old son who is 5'2" tall and weighs 108 lbs. My 7 year old daughter is 4'6" tall and weighs 55 lbs. She very very thin, and he's a little chubby. We eat healthy and are active. They do not drink soda or juice or have dessert. Fortunately, we have a pediatrician who understands that every child is different and it IS more than simply what you eat. Also based on my own experience with my brother, I refuse to make my son's weight a focal point in our lives. I'm confident he will grow into his body, and my daughter I am sure will too.

This is a highly inflammatory issue for me, and it's difficult to read some of these comments that imply there's nothing to obesity other than being lazy and having no self control.

I understand 200 lbs in VERY concerning at such a young age. And I think that there really could be something else going on besides eating a lot of bad food constantly. It would be very difficult to get to that weight at 8 or 9 years old, simply by eating - IMO. Based on my experience, now that his weight has become the center of his life and the reason he has been taken away from his family, the psychological impact will be a far greater problem for him for the rest of his life. I cannot imagine the food issues and self-worth problems this little boy is going to have forever because of how this was handled.

I may not know the whole story yet, but unless they were completely non-compliant and refused to eat healthy or anything at all, there has to be something else going on here - psychologically or physiologically - and taking him away from his family because he's overweight is an abuse of power - and IMO will negatively affect his life much more so than being overweight ever could. JMHO of course, but they really need to focus on the kids that really need removal but are seemingly invisible to this agency...until they're beaten to death or suddenly go "missing".

Sorry for the rant. This is just so upsetting to me. Unless you have dealt with the OTHER factors and causes of obesity, I can see how it would be easy to dismiss the parents as lazy and just not eating healthy or eating too much, so they must not care about the well being of their son. At the same time, some of these posts seem almost apathetic to the COMPLEX and varying causes of obesity, and are completely arrogant with the thinking that this is nothing more than self control and portion sizes.

MOO

 

[AnaTeresa]

I agree with some of what you say. But I totally disagree that kids should be taught to go by their body's natural cues. What about sex then? You get the urge and you better go through with it?

Portion sizes are not to be regimented but just because you are hungry doesn't mean you keep eating until you are full.

I've pointed out several times that the body doesn't register FULL until 20 minutes after being full. Of COURSE you need to teach your kids that, otherwise they wind up with belly aches.

Also cravings are not the same as hunger. Body's natural "cue" say I want chocolate cake, of COURSE you need to teach your kids that they need to have self control.

I'm sure that's not what you meant but I really don't understand your point.

FEELING hungry is not the same thing as being hungry. Try to read that link I posted, they explain it pretty well.

My parents never told me to eat a set portion and stop. The way they taught me was to eat slowly - generally by the time I was eating, I was full. If I was still hungry, it was because I really was still hungry. My parents also told me if I was thirsty to drink, and that sexual urges were normal. While they didn't tell me to go get it on with a neighbor, I was also taught that masturbation was perfectly normal. I'm not a slave to my body's signals - obviously I can't go to sleep in the middle of the afternoon if I'm tired. However, that is a sign that I need to go to bed earlier when the evening rolls around. Would you ignore being tired? To me, there's no difference between thirst, hunger, sleepiness, feeling cold/hot, sweating, etc. They are all signs from your body to modify your behavior.

There's a fairly sizable movement among nutritionists advocating listening to your body's cues, including cravings. I think there's some truth to it. In college, when I wasn't getting enough iron, I craved red meat constantly. I crave broccoli sometimes, or oranges. When I eat healthy, the cravings that I have, for the most part, are for healthy food (although I will admit to craving red wine and chocolate sometimes). When my diet slides into being unhealthy, then I start craving unhealthy things. Listening to your body only works if you treat your body right. However, if you're treating it right, your body's cues and cravings aren't going to steer you wrong (provided you aren't dealing with something like addiction). I'm not saying I'm perfect, by any means, but when I eat a healthy balanced diet, I really don't crave the crap.

I'm aware that hunger cues do not always mean you are actually hungry. But I also think that it's unhealthy to ignore the cues that you're receiving. Generally, you're receiving them for a reason. I think there's something to be said for the intuitive eating concept.

Intuitive eating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://persephonemagazine.com/2011/09/its-about-to-get-real-in-here/

http://www.intuitiveeating.org/

 

[Chewy]

I'm not saying to ignore the body cues, quite the opposite, learn what they actually mean.

For example using your iron story, if you crave 'meat" then you are obviously low on iron. But what if you don't realize that craving. You just think you are hungry. So you eat donuts. But you are not "hungry" you are actually craving iron, so the hunger doesn't go away. This is part of why I said sometimes kids mistake thirst for hunger.

I think we're basically on the same page.

 

[Ada]

The family of the child in my story, back a few pages, was receiving govt benefits because of the child's obesity related health problems. In this case, if the kid loses weight and improves her health, the family loses money. Not saying that was their motivation for not helping her (ok actually I am, as did the doctors and the fraud alert put on their case).

Just saying.