World

UK Officials May Take Four ‘Obese’ Children From Parents

Scottish Officials May Take Obese Children From Parents

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.

“We might not be the perfect parents, but we love our children with all our hearts,” said the 42-year-old mother to the Daily Mail. “To face a future where we will never see them again is unbearable.”

“We have tried very hard to do everything that was asked of us. My wife has cooked healthy foods like home-made spaghetti bolognese and mince and potatoes but nothing we’ve done has ever been enough,” said the 56-year-old father to the French Tribune.

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 according to the Associated Press.

The parents plan to fight the government decision to try and remove their children.

The couple are not guilty of any crime and have faced no accusations of deliberate abuse or cruelty reports the Telegraph:

“Critics said the case, which is without precedent in Britain, was a serious breach of the family’s human rights and exposed the worrying extent to which the State can interfere in family life.”

What do you think? Is taking the kids away in the children’s best interest, or cruel and textbook nanny-state?

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Comments (106)

1 2 3
  • Tear Em Up
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:32pm

    Any government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take awy everything you have….

    http://traffic.libsyn.com/mikeleeandterrymartin/Number_79_September_4th_2011.mp3

    Report Post » Tear Em Up  
    • Nehemiah6.3
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:13am

      This is one more thing to throw on the ever growing pile of atrocities that people who want all the power to control other people are piling up to themselves. They will keep it up until one day they come to realize they have thrown away their own eternal souls forever. They have deceived themselves into thinking God is not watching. But their spirits will eventually remember who they really are and what they have done. I feel sorry for the people who think this is right.

      Everyone has a right of choice given them. We as parents are also held responsible by God of our actions and what we have taught our children. Children are then responsible to listen to their parents and be respectful and live according to principles of a good decent, God fearing parents.

      Everyone will be responsible to God for their own actions, he will judge individually. You can try to blame others all you want, but in the end, I face God alone.

      Report Post » Nehemiah6.3  
    • ghostsouls
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:05am

      Coming to a country near you! Then we can take kids away from parents who do drugs, smoke, eat salt, smoke weed, drink alcohol, go to strip clubs. read adult magazines, watch adult videos, drink soda, cook with trans fat, oppose obama, where does it end?

      Report Post » ghostsouls  
    • Nick84
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:06am

      GHOSTSOULS
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 1:05am
      Coming to a country near you! Then we can take kids away from parents who do drugs, smoke, eat salt, smoke weed, drink alcohol, go to strip clubs. read adult magazines, watch adult videos, drink soda, cook with trans fat, oppose obama, where does it end?
      —-
      Some of the examples you gave are already in place and for good reason. Should drug addicts be allowed to have kids? What about in a meth lab house? Having excessively obese children should be considered neglect, just as not feeding them enough is. Or do you think it’s the parents right to raise a kid that will most likely die due to their poor choices?

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 6:09am

      @ghostsouls

      That was my exact thought: coming to a country near you. It’s exactly what Obama wants. Even though he claims to hate Great Brittain, he acts just like them. He has become what he claims to hate. He wants to turn America into the British and UK mentality.

      Report Post »  
    • 1proudAmerican
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:31am

      What will happen if the kids don’t lose weight with the foster parents? Will they be put into another foster home, and another, and another? This family could have an inherited disease like Hypothyroidism – maybe they should be tested before assuming they are abusing their children! Too much government, and too many lost freedoms.

      Report Post »  
    • robert
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:20am

      If they’re going to take away fat kids for their own good, then why not take those who listen to rap away for their own good, because listening to rap is far more harmful to a child than being fat?

      Report Post »  
    • blossom999
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:39pm

      Frighteningly true.

      Report Post »  
  • likwidlizard
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:32pm

    That picture looks like a herd of buffalo coming in at feeding time.

    Report Post » likwidlizard  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 4:45am

      It will never happen here. What would the do with those Mexican kids?

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
    • MUDFLAPS
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 7:50am

      If you think those people are buffalo, you should go to any airport in the US. It looks like a fat convention.

      Report Post »  
    • bondroid
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:20am

      LOL!! Okay. I know this is a serious issue on so many levels, but that was just too dam# funny!

      Report Post »  
    • bondroid
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:23am

      Okay, I know this is a serious issue on so many levels, but the was just dang funny!! LOL!

      Report Post »  
  • likwidlizard
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:30pm

    “We cooked em every HIGH IN STARCH food we could and they still are fat”. Well, idiots that’s what makes anyone FAT. Why don’t you try lettuce or celery or water? Also, if you give them all they can pack down that gullet then they don’t have a chance of becoming slim. Besides, the taxpayers don’t appreciate raising a hog farm. Remove the chairs and sofas and replace them with tread mills. That’s a start. Take them to a track field and make them RUN RUN RUN. Obesity causes health problems. No more soda pop period. No more candy. Give them an apple for breakfast. A pear for lunch. A small piece of chicken or fish with a carrot stick for dinner and only water drink all day.No more hot chocolate. Lock their BR doors at night so they don’t sneak food. More water intake=less food to eat. “but I love my childre!” BS!!! You’re killing them. If they’ve obeyed all week, reward them with an extra carrot stick or an apple. I guess some hog farmers are really weak minded. Grow some kahoonas and take your over-eating welfare *sses off the system.

    Report Post » likwidlizard  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:40pm

      I spent a year in West Virginia a few decades ago and I was surprised to see that most all of the children were having Pepsi and biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast. I wanted to puke.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:27pm

    Government takes the children….
    Parents go into depression and can no longer work…
    Government pays the parents lifetime disability…
    Children grow up without their parents and blame themselves…
    Children get depressed and can not work to pay the taxes to pay for their parents lifetime disability…
    Cycle repeats until we get to where we are today…

    Report Post » The-Monk  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:08pm

    What’s next? “UK Officials May Take ‘Obese’ Parents From Children?”
    How about…. “UK Officials May Take ‘Obese’ Teachers From Children?”
    Or, “White House to remove ‘Obese’ First Lady From Children?”

    Report Post » The-Monk  
  • PeachyinGA
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 9:45pm

    “What do you think? Is taking the kids away in the children’s best interest, or cruel and textbook nanny-state?”

    NOT in the best interest of the children or their family. They are being made an example of how to abandon your God-given rights to your government. Coming soon to a country near (very near) you.

    Report Post » PeachyinGA  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:13pm

      If the Government is now in charge of everything, then blame the Government. Remove all the fatso’s in Government and their fatso pay checks and their fatso health care and their fatso perks.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • obama-mecca-me-sick
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:22pm

      Will gov. Christie be removed from NJ?

      Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:49pm

      In this case I think NJ will be removed from Gov. Christie.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • drybackinpi
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 7:27am

      Take away the food stamps

      Report Post » drybackinpi  
  • Pigpen
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 9:13pm

    This is hard for most Americans to understand because most Americans mistakenly believe that the UK has been burnt down and destroyed during the recent race riots… LMAO The UK police don’t have the courage to stop the RACE RIOTS, but they know they can beat up on whitey… IF the crackers in the UK don’t sweep the BNP into power at the next election cycle, they deserve what they get. Oh, and one last point:
    UK POLICE, YOU ARE COWARDS!!! KICK THE W0GS OUT ALREADY!!!

    Report Post » Pigpen  
  • Slayer
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 9:08pm

    1) If the State was involved the last several months with this bunch, doesn’t that make the State culpable?
    2) Who decided that only thin people represented true humanity? That fat people may not be fat because of genetics? That all people must conform to some kind of a universal appearance?

    Report Post » Slayer  
    • hopetochange2012
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:09am

      Well put! The emotional damage done to this family will be FAR WORSE than the “damage” of being overweight.

      GET A BACKBONE, BRITISH! It’s time YOU had a revolution against your government!

      Report Post »  
  • suzy000
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 9:04pm

    I just finished reading an article where they have now uncovered a skinny gene and obese gene and they are coming to the conclusion 1 in so many thousands of families carry this gene. They better make sure that this family is not genetically carrying a rare gene or these liberal countries can be sued and should be!

    Report Post »  
  • Sgt.Murph
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:47pm

    Not even in France!

    Report Post » Sgt.Murph  
  • Fight for America
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:43pm

    If the kids were temporarily taken into care and they lost weight at a healthy rate – I guess that would signal where the problem is. The parents – if that’s on the outside – don’t seem to be changing for themselves either. The kids deserve a chance at health.

    Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:17pm

      Who decides what a “healthy rate of weight lose is?” Suppose the Government just starves these children or makes them throw-up after every meal? Once the Government takes your children you will never know what happened to them… or their minds.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Lucy Larue
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:06pm

      FIGHT FOR AMERICA,

      Really? Well…, how long would your temporary custody be in linear time?

      Look at the picture! Do these children look morbidly obese? They do not!
      You CANNOT legislate human behavior.

      “NANNY” is a synonym for “COMMUNIST”.

      Report Post »  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:39pm

    This is bull… absolute bull.. How dare a government tear apart a family.. I hope they rot in he–!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
  • searching for the Truth
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:30pm

    Darn kids of mine been eating all my chickins and I tell ya something ever since that thar reverent Right promised them thar chickins were coming home , I ain’t seen nair one , so he’s darn wrong.

    Report Post »  
    • tower7femacamp
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:41pm

      Take them ? Americans are only to happy to give up their kids and their rights.
      How else could this happen ever ????

      Report Post » tower7femacamp  
  • Elena2010
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:20pm

    Makes the Chinese “One Child Policy” seem rather tame, now doesn’t it?

    Report Post » Elena2010  
  • Elena2010
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:18pm

    Fat Nazis! Food Nazis!

    Where does it end?

    Report Post » Elena2010  
  • RedheadTexan
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:15pm

    It is ridiculous to compare this to the American cases to date where children have been taken for obeisity. In the American cases, the children weren’t just “fat kids.” They had serious life threatening illnesses and were actually in imminent danger of DEATH and the parents still didn’t do jack. It was actually the medical effects of their obeisity they were taken for, not just for being fat. That is something this articlee fails to mention. Do these children have uncontrolled type 2 diabetes? Obstructive sleep apnea? Cirrosis? All are the effects of super obeisity. It is these conditions, ignored and untreated, which usually lead to children being taken, not their BMI.

    Report Post »  
  • squeaker
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:01pm

    they should remove obambam’s kids…. look at the hate he is feeding them…!

    Report Post »  
  • Salamander
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:55pm

    The question I have is: Are they taking the children away from their parents; or, taking the parents away from their children? Why is it that government ‘feels a need’ to step in? If a liberal thinks the parent is doing such a bad job, why don‘t THEY step in and not use the ’cat‘s paw’ technique to cause someone else (the government) to do it for them–so they don’t have to get involved? Sometimes, children get bad parents: sometimes parents get bad children. So what! Count your blessings! There are so many parents that take care of ‘challenged’ children. There are so many children that learn to handle adversity from bad parents! How is the government intervention solution any better?

    Report Post »  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:54pm

    “For the past two years, the family has lived in government housing and had their eating habits scrutinized.”

    Kick them out of the government welfare program and I guarantee they will slim down when they have to buy their own food.

    Report Post » KickinBack  
    • Salamander
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:00pm

      Once you start intervening in peoples lives, there is no end to it! Government housing, government food support, government healthcare, government jobs, government caskets! Is it really government’s responsibility to look after its citizens or is it the citizens responsibility to look after its government? I’t think it more effective to remove government interference (a.k.a. support) from the family and let things fall where they may!

      Report Post »  
    • US_Veteran
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:12pm

      Heavens NO, they would never do that

      Report Post »  
  • dontbotherme
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:46pm

    If a child’s life is in danger because of parental neglect or abuse, “someone” is obligated to step in & save the child’s life. Obesity can be a life threatening condition. I think we are obligated to teach people a healthy lifestyle IF ASKED, but I don’t think the Government has the right to take a child away from the parents if the parents are truly trying to change. I was watching some older clips from television earlier today. One thing that kept catching my eyes is how emaciated the actors looked…almost anorexic. But they weren’t. That was normal. I realized, after looking at older pictures, we were all a lot thinner way back. What happened? When did society become so dang fat? Seriously? What changed? Fast food? Mom’s having to work? Something put in our food sources to plump everyone up? Laziness? Lots of questions.

    Report Post »  
    • Salamander
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:51pm

      Food stamps!

      Report Post »  
    • dontbotherme
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:57pm

      Salamander- good point. Food stamps (although sometimes necessary for emergencies) go hand in hand with laziness and or depression which leads to taking the easy way out to junk food.

      Report Post »  
    • squeaker
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:03pm

      our diet, lifestyle (less exercise today), more stress…. the list goes on and on

      Report Post »  
    • lisapa
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 9:56pm

      Actually, something did change in the foods and it could very well be linked to obesity. Food coloring creates ADHD behavior in many children, which has been acknowledged by other countries for quite some time. One of the other wonderful effects of food coloring is that is seems to be highly addictive. As in, once a child who reacts to it eats it, they will not want to eat anything else for quite a while. So, could we be creating our own obesity problem? Sure– with both parents employed full time to survive financially there is precious little energy left for fighting about food in the grocery store, and the cheap crap is what is most loaded with coloring. Food for thought, all pun intended.

      Report Post »  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 4:33am

      No game boy……… and as kids we worked. cutting grass, shoveling snow, helping your Mom and Dad with whatever. Playing outside! We didn’t have time to get fat

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
  • Islesfordian
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:44pm

    Isn’t Britain, in effect, already taking care of these children? Is not a vast percentage of the British population living directly off the government teat and having all of their needs and wants supplied by the government? How‘s Britain’s record for taking care of its infantile charges so far?

    Fat, drunk and stupid is a hell of a way to run a former empire, but it seems Fool Britania is up to the challenge.

    Report Post » Islesfordian  
    • Mandors
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 8:10pm

      The socialists took over in the UK a long time ago. They were instrumental in breaking up British Empire and instituting a “progressive”society where unless you are of the “educated class” is very difficult to get ahead.

      Take a hard look at what Barrack Obama wants this country to look like.

      Report Post » Mandors  
  • lonewolf57
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:36pm

    Where was Chris Christie born?It must suck to ….nevermind.

    Report Post » lonewolf57  
  • hauschild
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:27pm

    Damned Brownshirts; even Britain has been reduced to repeating history.

    Report Post »  
  • captaincanuck
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:24pm

    I am confused on what right the government has in this manner. If a mother doesn‘t properly take care of a child’s teeth, or doesn’t teach a child certain things before they are ready for the entrance grade into elementary school, should the government step in as well?

    The thought police are always at work.

    Report Post » captaincanuck  
    • 82dAirborne
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:32pm

      This is a tough one. Would you have the government remove children from a home in which they were near starving? If so – why? Possibly because the children’s well-being was being threatened. Is the well-being of obese children threatened?

      NOTE: I don’t know if I agree with removing the children or not. It is an interesting question…………..

      Report Post » 82dAirborne  
    • hauschild
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:48pm

      No, the government has no right to do jack squat in this matter. It’s ridiculous. Some kids are portly when they’re young and grow out of it, and some do not. It’s called life and free will. Damned progressives and their insane desire for a Utopian society; they outta be behind bars. Save a fat kid, but mess his mind up in the process? It’s sickening that this kind of behavior is acceptable in an educated society like Britain. These people ought to be ashamed of themselves.

      Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on September 5, 2011 at 10:16pm

      they are discriminatory against “Fat” people.
      define fat. define well-being. these are relative words… “eye of the beholder”.
      pretty much everyone in the world is fat to an 80lb person. … so… hmmm
      and a 200lb person is thin compared to a 300lb person… and so on so forth..
      same with well-being… it’s all relative to the person looking at it…

      you are going to say it’s relative to the average right? well.. if everyone lets their child get fat, then there is no problem by that logic… the average would be raised and fat wouldnt be fat anymore… see how dumb that whole system is?

      Report Post »  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on September 5, 2011 at 7:19pm

    I like chubbies.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
1 2 3

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love