A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » misc.kids » General
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

S.C. case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 23rd 09, 07:09 AM posted to soc.support.fat-acceptance,misc.kids,alt.support.diet,alt.support.diet.low-carb,misc.consumers
Rod Speed
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default S.C. case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it?

Paula wrote:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...esityboy_N.htm

S.C. case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it?

By Ron Barnett, USA TODAY


Jerri Gray was doing all she could to help her son lose weight, her attorney says.


Corse no 'attorney' ever lies, eh ?

But something had gone terribly wrong for the boy to hit the 555-pound mark by age 14.


You quite sure you aint one of those rocket scientist terminal ****wit ?

Authorities in South Carolina say that what went wrong was Gray's
care and feeding of her son, Alexander Draper. Gray, 49, of Travelers
Rest, S.C., was arrested in June and charged with criminal neglect.
Alexander is now in foster care.

The case has attracted national attention. With childhood obesity on
the rise across the USA, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, Gray's attorney says it could open the door to more
criminal action against parents whose children have become
dangerously overweight.

"If she's found guilty on those criminal charges, you have set a
precedent that opens Pandora's box," Grant Varner says. "Where do you
go next?"

State courts in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, New Mexico, Indiana and
California have grappled with the question in recent years, according
to a 2008 report published by the Child Welfare League of America.

In all of those cases, except the one in California, courts expanded
their state's legal definition of medical neglect to include morbid
obesity and ruled that the children were victims of neglect, the
report says. Criminal charges were filed only in the California and
Indiana cases, but the parents weren't sentenced to jail time in
either.

What the court can order

The New York case in 2007 involved an adolescent girl who weighed 261
pounds, the report says. The court ordered nutritional counseling,
cooking classes and gym workouts.

Criminal charges should be a last resort, says Linda Spears, vice
president of policy and public affairs for the Child Welfare League
of America.

"I think I would draw the line at a place where there are serious
health consequences for the child and efforts to work with the family
have repeatedly failed," she says.

What's more often needed is a structured plan of action that's
accountable to a court, she says.

Most of the time, the health problems tied to childhood obesity don't
become chronic until adulthood, which makes it difficult to charge
parents with child abuse, Spears says.

In the South Carolina case, Gray followed nutritional guidelines set
for her son by the state Department of Social Services, Varner says,
but Alexander apparently got other food on his own while not under
his mother's supervision.

The boy has been placed in foster care, and Varner says he hasn't been
allowed to speak to him. Gray has signed an agreement with a film
documentary company for exclusive rights to her story and couldn't
comment for this article, Varner says.

"There's a strong likelihood that this kid is going to school and
could eat whatever he wanted to at school, because you've got friends
who will help him buy food or will give him their leftovers," Varner
says. "The big question is: What is this kid doing when he's not in
Mom's care, custody and control?"

Greenville County School District spokesman Oby Lyles declined to
comment.

"This is not a case of a mother force-feeding a child," Varner says.
"If she had been holding him down and force-feeding him, sure, I can
understand. But she doesn't have the means to do it. She doesn't have
the money to buy the food to do it."

Slippery slope ahead?

The case could have ramifications beyond parental control over
obesity to other eating disorders, and even other behaviors not
related to weight, Varner says.

"What about the parents of every 16-year-old in Beverly Hills who's
too thin? Are they going to start arresting parents because their
child is too thin?" he asks.

Jolene Puffer, a personal trainer in Asheville, N.C., says the problem
often is parents "loving their kids to death," especially in
low-income families where food is one of the few things they can
afford to give their children.

But school officials and doctors are "not sounding the alarm" when
they should, she says.

Puffer took a local family on as a volunteer project and helped a
16-year-old boy who weighed 434 pounds lose 110 pounds, while his
mother lost more than 80 and his sister shed nearly 50.

A social services counselor had recommended that the boy apply for
Medicare, which Puffer says could have set him up as a lifelong
disability case.

States have been taking steps to combat childhood obesity, according
to a report released this month by the Trust for America's Health and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

For example, 20 states have passed requirements for schools to do
body mass index (BMI) screenings or other weight-related tests of
children and adolescents, up from four states five years ago, says
the report, title "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in
America."

But it also says that, although every state requires physical
education in schools, the requirements "are often limited, not
enforced, or do not meet adequate quality standards."

The same report says 30% of children in 30 states ages 10 to 17 are
overweight or obese, with the rate hitting a high of 44.4% in
Mississippi.

The CDC says the number of obese children ages 6 to 11 more than
doubled in the past 20 years, while the rate for adolescents more
than tripled.

A comparison to drugs

Ron Jones, a corporate wellness expert based in Atlanta and Los
Angeles, uses the phrase "child obesity is child abuse" in his
promotional materials and says the nation has turned its head the
other way when it comes to accepting that concept.

"If you gave your child a drug, you'd be held in the court. But if
you kill them with food, that seems to be acceptable," he says.

The difficulty with prosecuting such cases is that most state laws
require that the child's health be in imminent danger for criminal
charges to be filed, and the parent must be capable of helping the
child but hasn't taken the necessary action, says Richard Balnave, a
professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Obesity, although potentially dangerous, does not generally put a
child in imminent danger, he says.

Supreme Court rulings have recognized the right of parents to raise
their children how they see fit, Balnave says, but not to the point
that the child's health is endangered.

The arrest warrant in the Gray case alleges that her son's weight was
"serious and threatening to his health" and that she had placed him
"at an unreasonable risk of harm."

Virginia Williamson, counsel for the South Carolina Department of
Social Services, says her agency sought custody of Alexander "because
of information from health care providers that he was at risk of
serious harm because his mother was not meeting his medical needs."

The department "would not take action based on a child's weight
alone," she says.

Gray failed to appear at a family court hearing in which her child
was to be turned over to foster care, according to a warrant issued
in May.

Police later found her with the boy in Baltimore County, Md., and
took her back to South Carolina, where she was released on a $50,000
bond, her attorney says.

Barnett reports for The Greenville (S.C.)



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Former probabion (EX-CPS) officer sentenced in child abuse case:It's always disappointing when an official uses his position to have accessto kids... fx Spanking 1 May 26th 07 10:03 PM
Former probabion (EX-CPS) officer sentenced in child abuse case:It's always disappointing when an official uses his position to have accessto kids... fx Foster Parents 1 May 26th 07 10:03 PM
Nevada Child Abuse Bill on Way to Becoming Law: a study that found11 children died of abuse while in the protective custody of the Clark CountyDepartment of Child and Family Services between 2001 and 2004. fx Foster Parents 0 May 4th 07 02:21 AM
Child obesity a form of abuse Banty General 1 June 10th 05 07:15 PM
Videotape challenged in child abuse case Ron Foster Parents 0 August 20th 04 11:04 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.