Plan B Forum

Posted: **Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:01 pm**

UK officials may take 4 obese kids into custody

Monday, September 5, 2011

(09-05) 07:57 PDT LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) --

Scottish officials say they may take four heavy children away from their parents after warnings to help their kids trim down have apparently failed.

The children are aged one to 11. The parents are obese and have three older children who are also heavy. For the past two years, the family has lived in government housing and had their eating habits scrutinized.

Last week, officials in Dundee told the family their four youngest children could be taken into foster care or adopted. A government spokesman said they would act in the children's best interests.

In the U.S., there have been several cases where obese children have been taken into care after their parents couldn't help them lose weight.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 751D34.DTL

Posted: **Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:44 pm**

I'm certain that sounds extreme to some, but these kinds of decisions aren't made lightly. Full investigations, and educating the parents were tried first.

IMHO It actually is very bad parenting to think raising a child, amounts to just feeding it. How they feed their kids, can and is just as important as what they feed them, when it obviously, negatively affects their children's health.
When the parents continued the bad behavior, the removal seemed justified to me.

Posted: **Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:25 pm**

I read about this one. In the Daily Mail.

They interviewed the parents and got a picture of the family.

I mustard mitt, I am sure I have seen fatter families that are waddling around together.

Posted: **Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:33 pm**

They don't seem obese by modern standards. I wonder if anything else is going on there.

Edited to add...

This would seem apposite here;

US stroke rates 'rising in young'

More children and young adults in the US are having strokes - with unhealthy lifestyles being a likely cause, scientists have said.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysed hospital data on up to eight million patients a year between 1995 and 2008.

In Annals of Neurology, they say stroke rates in five to 44-year-olds rose by about a third in under 10 years.

Higher blood pressure, diabetes and obesity were common in stroke patients.

The researchers looked at figures for ischemic stroke, due to blood clots, and haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding on the brain.

The rate of ischemic stroke increased by 31% in five to 14-year-olds, from 3.2 strokes per 10,000 hospital cases to 4.2 per 10,000.

There were increases of 30% for people aged 15 to 34 and 37% in patients between the ages of 35 and 44.

In all age groups the increase was greater in men than in women.

Figures for haemorrhagic stroke showed decreases in age groups except the five to 14-year-olds, but the researchers said: "The increase in ischemic stroke far outweighs the decreases."

The report said the prevalence of hypertension, obesity and tobacco use had increased in stroke patients.

More than half of 35 to 44-year-olds who had an ischemic stroke also had hypertension.

"Urgent public health initiatives are needed to reverse trends in modifiable risk factors associated with stroke in adolescents and young adults," the report concludes.

Dr Lorna Layward, from the Stroke Association in the UK, said: "People usually associate strokes with older people, but a quarter of all strokes happen to people of working age, and around 400 children have a stroke every year in the UK.

"We know that high blood pressure is the biggest risk factor for stroke, along with other factors such as obesity, diabetes, poor diet and smoking.

"This research emphasises the need for people to be aware that stroke can affect younger people, and for all of us, regardless of our age, to check our blood pressure and adopt a healthy lifestyle."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14746370

Posted: **Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:39 pm**

Whether it is justified or not it is impractical just because of the numbers of obese families. I'm hoping a public education campaign along with promoting healthier school lunch programs is effective.

yrs,
rubato

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