BellaOnline Forums Family Siblings Obesity in Children a Crime?

A mom was arrested and faces crimianl charges for child endangerment/neglect because her 14 year old son in 555 lbs. I have heard of government interference but not to the level of arrests and criminal charges (maybe jail time) for the parent.
Apparently she had already received warnings from Child Protective Services and now the next step is being taken. Should a parent be criminally responsible if their children are obese (super obese)? Should obesity be treated much in the same way of its extreme - starvation? Also, the kid didn't get the that weight class overnight, but again, is it a crime?

That's a hard call, but to allow a child to get to such a morbid state of obesity can't be right. His life must be SO restricted and his outlook for a healthy future is pretty dim. Granted, he must have some severe problems, both physical and mental, to get to that point, but he didn't get there overnight, or all by himself. Apparently the mom knew that she had to do something about it but didn't. Is it a crime for a parent to endanger her child's life by giving him drugs, or letting him drive a car without instruction, or encouraging him to rob stores? Children are not capable of making good judgements for themselves all the time, which is why we parents HAVE to be responsible for them. But if a parent can't or won't be responsible, then who will?

I agree it's a tough call. I just wrote something on my blog about super obesity. I would watch TLC or some health documentary on another channel and there are a lot of shows about gastric bypass for people who are so large they can't even walk. Some have to be cut out of their homes. I always wondered - how do they get that big and sustain it? They have to have enablers who bring them more food to eat in one day than the average person eats over the course of multiple days. A child can't get that big without help from home. In the case before the courts it's his mother's who is and should be held responsible.

She may have been giving him unhealthy food and deliberately getting his weight up so he wouldn't leave the nest.