Teens from ‘loving family’ put in foster care for being overweight

A loving home wasn’t enough: Authorities determined the body weight of these children made their parents unfit. 

Judge Gillian Ellis in Sussex, UK, has ruled that two teens should be placed in long-term foster care as a result of their parents’ inability to reduce the children’s extreme weight, in addition to other concerns including poor home conditions and a lack of personal care guidance, the Guardian reported. The family’s identity remains private at this time. 

“Everyone agrees that this is a very sad and unusual case, of a loving family, where the parents meet many of the basic needs of the children, but the local authority has been concerned that the parents are not meeting the children’s health needs, in that both children are severely overweight, and the parents have shown an inability to help the children manage this condition,” Ellis said in her ruling. 

She made her ruling despite the fact that the parents in some ways showed themselves to be good and responsible parents, evidenced by the teens’ manners and general demeanor. 

“The case was such an unusual one, because the children had clearly had some very good parenting, as they were polite, bright and engaging,” Ellis added. 

Social services staff in West Sussex first alerted a family court about the children’s weight, and local authorities subsequently gave the family complimentary Fitbits and gym memberships. The family also signed up for Weight Watchers. 

Months later, however, the children’s weight — which was not revealed — had not changed, and the family did not provide authorities with mandatory Fitbit recordings, nor did they consistently attend the Weight Watchers meetings. 

“The children had failed to engage consistently in exercise despite the local authority providing Fitbits and paying for gym membership. The children were supposed to provide recordings from their Fitbits, but this had not been done,” Ellis said in her ruling, which the Guardian reported on after it published online Wednesday. 

While Ellis said the teens’ parents appeared to not sufficiently respect how important “living more healthily” was, the children’s mother said the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was at the heart of the issue. 

“The mother blamed lockdown for the inability to exercise, but exercise could still be taken in the home or by walking outside,” Ellis wrote. 

via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/teens-from-loving-family-put-in-foster-care-for-being-overweight/

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