# Ohio puts 200-pound third-grader in foster care **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308 "2011-11-28T03:02:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/81 "2011-11-28T19:46:13Z")
Being that overweight can have effects on a child’s physical frame too. They can end up with bowed legs, back problems, and may even have difficulty walking. I don’t know if “can barely walk” counts as a health problem but I can see that being a reason to remove him from the home. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/82 "2011-11-28T20:57:03Z")
Sorry but the so called “mother”, isn’t fit to be a parent. If you are stupid enough, weak enough, or irresponsible enough to allow an eight year old CHILD to reach 200 pounds aged eight then you have totally lost the plot. Unfortunately irresponsible parents aren’t only irresponsible in one way, they tend to be irresponsible across the board. The child has no future whatsoever with this idiot supposedly parenting it. School advice ? Career advice ? Advice about dealing with peers, setbacks, teenage problems ? This kid would have been better off if it had been an orphan. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/83 "2011-11-28T20:58:05Z")
Another angle here is poverty. Does anybody think that CPS would be snatching this child from his home if his parents were rich? ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/84 "2011-11-28T21:07:07Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Another angle here is poverty. Does anybody think that CPS would be snatching this child from his home if his parents were rich? Irrelevant. The question is, should CPS intervene in cases where a child’s health is being neglected? I say yes, you say no. CPS doesn’t rescue as many children from wealthy abusive homes in general. Doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/85 "2011-11-28T21:09:10Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Irrelevant. The question is, should CPS intervene in cases where a child’s health is being neglected? I say yes, you say no. No…the question is whether this child is being neglected to the extent that CPS should remove him from his home. I say no, you say yes. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/86 "2011-11-28T21:24:02Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > What exactly is medical danger though. We already know that morbid obesity is an indicator of a number of chronic conditions that directly impact mortality: heart disease, hypertension, Type II diabetes at the top of the list. If the child is at significant risk of developing any of those potentially fatal, but certainly dangerous medical conditions, shouldn’t that be deemed “imminent medical danger”? Or do we wait until he has developed one or more of those conditions before we deem “imminent medical danger”? And if we wait until his heart gives out or he strokes out or loses a leg, who is then responsible? The mother for creating the problem, CPS for ignoring the problem, or the doctor for failing to treat the problem? Or society for not seeing something terribly wrong with a situation in which an eight year old can become 300 lbs.? > > Beyond playing the blame game, why would anyone want to see a child suffer any of those preventable things? Nobody disputes severe obesity is a health concern … but, that being said, if all cases of severe obesity were treated as “abuse” remedied by removing the child from the home environment, the system would be overwhelmed. From the article in the OP: > [@](#): > > The Ohio Health Department estimates more than 12 percent of third-graders statewide are severely obese. There is simply no way that social services could deal with removing 12% of 3rd grade children from their homes. It is not practical. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/87 "2011-11-28T21:45:18Z")
Small Hen: We decided not to lock up the food but buy food every day in one day increments. One reason is I prefer to cook with fresh ingredients and that he is not alone in the house with an entire meal. We get a weeks worth of food for his lunch at school but this is so he can practice portion control. Brown Eye Girl: I am dealing with his psychological issues. Did you see the “Counseling? Doing that.” part of my post? That is why I pay for him to see a counselor but it is not as simple as bulimia. It’s almost like he is addicted to food PLUS he lacks that control mechanism of “maybe I shouldn’t eat that” Also, a lot of his eating is unconcious so he doesn’t self-track his food intake. There are many issues going on and we (him, me and the counselor) are working on it one issue at a time. levdragon: > [@](#): > > Or are you going to let your kid eat himself to death and you’ll be damned if you’ll accept help? I’m assuming that your use of “you” was part of the hypothetical and not an accusation of me personally. I’ll leave it at that for now. So what sort of help do you suggest? A medical exam? You must have missed the part where I said I did that. Here’s a hint: hit CTRL-F and type in “prader willi” Psychological help? You must have missed the part where I said I am paying out of pocket for a counselor. Parental control? I go to the store EVERY DAY to buy 24 hours worth of food. Even if that is effective, it still does not cure the underlying issues so when he moves out on his own … The point I was making in my post was that while many times you can blame the parent for not taking action, that is not true IN EVERY CASE and that for those of us that are doing everything we can to save our child from obesity - not just now but for life - to automatically blame us or assume we are unfit parents is extremely offensive. And for all of you judgemental dopers out there, consider yourself lucky in your ivory tower that you don’t have a child with this sort of psychological issue. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/88 "2011-11-28T22:21:28Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > levdragon: > I’m assuming that your use of “you” was part of the hypothetical and not an accusation of me personally. I’ll leave it at that for now. I don’t want details of your personal life. I wanted you to imagine you’re the parent in this case. It’s not the same situation. As a parent, don’t you have a greater responsibility for your kid’s health and welfare than you do your own happiness at keeping your kid around? Knowing that keeping him at home is making him sicker? ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/89 "2011-11-28T22:43:17Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I don’t want details of your personal life. I wanted you to imagine you’re the parent in this case. It’s not the same situation. > > As a parent, don’t you have a greater responsibility for your kid’s health and welfare than you do your own happiness at keeping your kid around? Knowing that keeping him at home is making him sicker? How do you know that keeping a child at home is making them sicker? You have no idea, and are just guessing. \*\*Saint Cad \*\* just listed a huge number of steps he/she is taking. Do you honestly think that the State can do a better job than a parent who appears to be dedicating themself to caring for a severely troubled child? Do you have any idea how the foster care system works? Do you know that there are (warning pdf) [real, demonstrated, serious outcomes of putting a child in foster care](http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf)? The child in the Ohio case is an honor student, involved in school activities. His mother is educated enough to be a substitute school teacher. If you are so sure that the current standard for removing a child is wrong (imminent medical danger), then what standard do you propose? Also, it’s nice that people “feel” that this child should be removed based on their own experiences, but as several posters have pointed out, it is impossible for the state to handle all the cases of obese kids. So what then? How do you decide what the cut-off is? There is a tenable slippery-slope argument to be made when you have no objective determinants for decision making. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/90 "2011-11-28T23:09:02Z")
> [@Amasia](#): > > How do you know that keeping a child at home is making them sicker? CPS appears to think so. [QUOTE=Amasia] You have no idea, and are just guessing. [/quote] While no one here has all of the facts of the case, the empirical evidence seems to lend itself to the idea that the medical professionals directly involved in the case _do_ believe the kid will be less sick outside of his home. As far as your idea that the kid being an honor student and mom being an upstanding substitute teacher means it’s less likely that he’s being abused. . . ridiculous. In my years working with high school students, the kids who I’ve had to have CPS step in on have all been honor students and debate champions— with “honorable” parents. Not all parents who neglect or outright abuse their children are scumbag crackheads. ---
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/91 "2011-11-28T23:16:13Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > CPS appears to think so. > > While no one here has all of the facts of the case, the empirical evidence seems to lend itself to the idea that the medical professionals directly involved in the case _do_ believe the kid will be less sick outside of his home. > > As far as your idea that the kid being an honor student and mom being an upstanding substitute teacher means it’s less likely that he’s being abused. . . ridiculous. In my years working with high school students, the kids who I’ve had to have CPS step in on have all been honor students and debate champions— with “honorable” parents. Not all parents who neglect or outright abuse their children are scumbag crackheads. Where are you getting that the medical professionals made the determination to remove the child, or that the child would be better off out of the home? If you read the comments in the articles from medical professionals, all agree that the child needs to lose weight, but none have said that removing the child from his home is the solution. My point about education was that the child appeared to have a parent that was engaged in child-raising. Perhaps a more relevant point would be that the mother enrolled the child in a program at Rainbow Babies & Children’s hospital- you know, one of the top children’s hospital’s in the country to deal with his weight problem. I will counterpoint your anecdote with my own- in all my years living with foster kids and working on foster care issues, none of the kids I have directly interacted with have had “honorable” parents (true, some were doing ok in school, but they were the rare exception). Not all have been crackheads, but most have been scumbags. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/92 "2011-11-28T23:18:14Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > To all of you that blame the parents and claim kids don’t overeat on their own (tommymann, Naxos, zoid) - you are wrong. My son is severely overweight. Many of you would blame me for that or say I “let him” get overweight (CitizenPained) but here are the facts: > My son has an unnatural obsession with food. He will ask what is for dinner when he is eating lunch. Food is a major focus in his life. > He grazes. If strict controls are not put on him he eats all of the time. I don’t care how healthy your diet is (poultry, fish, vegetables, fruit for snacks, making his own school lunch), if you eat too much you get fat. We have gotten to the point where we buy one day’s worth of food everyday because if he is unsupervised and there is food in the house, he will eat it. And yes, he does sneak food when I’m in the other room (Chronos) and I do homecooking every night (Naxos). Before he got counseling, I took him to a physician to have him evaluated for Prader-Willi Syndrome. > He refuses to exercize. How do you physically force a tweener to do something he doesn’t want to in a way that is not abusive? Grab his arm and drag him on a walk? Punish him other ways? Great answer except he will take the punishment over physical exercize every time. > Counseling? Doing that (incidently out of pocket). The problem lies in his executive function capabilities so I guess he has a learning disability. The outcome is that it is extremely difficulty for him to analyze a situtation and act appropriately on it. The counseling has helped (he now focuses [most of the time] on portion control]) but it involves a lot of oversight by both me and the counselor. Now let me ask you this: is every parent in a financial position to take their child to ongoing counseling multiple time per month? > > I have seen cases where kids lead an unhealthy lifestyle and the parents are failing in their duties to keep their child healthy. I have seen the videos where parents give the kid a meal that would easily feed a family of four with leftovers. However, not every case boils down to being the parents fault. Sometime there are real issues that are outside the parents control. The difference between you and the other parent is that you were doing something about it. You are. She wasn’t. Someone had to force her, and for whatever reason, she failed\* and CPS took the kid away. \*Failed meaning his health isn’t better. Not sure if she missed appts or what. We don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/93 "2011-11-28T23:20:19Z")
3rd grade is around 8 years old. 200 pound 8-year-old. Yeah. Some intervention sounds right. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/94 "2011-11-28T23:41:03Z")
> [@Amasia](#): > > How do you know that keeping a child at home is making them sicker? You have no idea, and are just guessing. Yes, and on my side of the guess I’ve got real live CPS case workers and doctors who are actually there and know the true details and zero evidence that the mom in this case is doing _any_ of the things \*\*Saint Cad \*\* is doing/already done. > [@](#): > > \*\*Saint Cad \*\* just listed a huge number of steps he/she is taking. Do you honestly think that the State can do a better job than a parent who appears to be dedicating themself to caring for a severely troubled child? Do you have any idea how the foster care system works? Do you know that there are (warning pdf) [real, demonstrated, serious outcomes of putting a child in foster care](http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf)? No one is threatening to take Saint’s kid nor are they proposing removing obese kids from their homes. As already pointed out, 12% of 3rd graders in Ohio are seriously obese and no one has said this one case is just the beginning of a state-sponsored mass kidnapping. > [@](#): > > The child in the Ohio case is an honor student, involved in school activities. His mother is educated enough to be a substitute school teacher. These days, aren’t all children honor students involved in school activities? I’m not sure I care. The kid can be a happy honor student and still have his health being jeopardized at home. > [@](#): > > If you are so sure that the current standard for removing a child is wrong (imminent medical danger), then what standard do you propose? I don’t know and I haven’t thought about it much. I’m in this thread to say I’m siding with the social workers and doctors who are there looking out for the kid and know the situation a heck of a lot better than any of us do here. Further, I’ll say that obesity, and juvenile obesity are considered epidemics and if that’s true then at some point society has a right to step in and start doing something about it. If that means kids getting weighed at school and the parents of severely obese kids getting phone calls so be it. No doubt the parents who get phone calls will be enraged at the indignity. No doubt many of those parents need to get their lazy irresponsible heads out of their asses and start parenting. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/95 "2011-11-29T01:15:58Z")
I think we need some more info, but at first glance, the actions seem appropriate. We need photos and the kid’s height. Some kids can have a growth spurt early and be signifigantly larger than their classmates. But the kid’s doctor would know this and take it into account. It is important to remember that the State did not act quickly or rashly. They attempted to have the parent remedy the situation. The parent did not, at least in CPS’s eyes. In my eyes, letting an 8 yr old kid with an average frame get to be 200 lbs is fucking insane! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/96 "2011-11-29T03:20:24Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > What do you consider imminent risk? Continually ignoring a doctor’s care. It’s a given that this child will suffer the effects of his excess weight. Imminent is not easily defined but not following a doctor’s plan of action to correct the situation would follow more along the lines of neglect. I’m not a big fan of what is happening here and would need to more about the situation to really weigh in (apologies for the pun). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/97 "2011-11-29T03:50:37Z")
I’m curious what definition of “imminent” **Oakminster** is using that doesn’t include “right now”. Right this very moment, this child has a serious health problem as a direct result of his mother’s upbringing of him. Forget about all of the other health issues he might (in fact probably will) develop some time later than 30 days from now-- He already, right now, has a serious medical condition. If that’s not imminent enough, what is? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/98 "2011-11-29T03:56:58Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Bullshit. How many cases of real physical abuse have you seen? I’m guessing not very many. Seriously abused children have brusies, scars and/or broken bones, not a weight problem. I guess you also no nothing about abuse. Not all abuse is physical. I guess as long as you can;t see any marks, you can say nothing happened. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tommymann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@tommymann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tommymann)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/99 "2011-11-29T04:36:51Z")
I think this discussion needs more facts. From the Cleveland _Plain Dealer_: [QUOTE=] Mary Louise Madigan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Family Services, said, “This child’s problem was so severe that we had to take custody.” The agency worked with the mother for more than a year before asking Juvenile Court for custody of the child, she said. Lawyers for the mother, a substitute elementary school teacher who is also taking vocational school classes, think the county has overreached in this case by arguing that medical conditions the boy is at risk for – but doesn’t yet have – pose an imminent danger to his health. “They are trying to make it seem like I am unfit, like I don’t love my child,” the boy’s mother said. "Of course I love him. Of course I want him to lose weight. It’s a lifestyle change, and they are trying to make it seem like I am not embracing that. It is very hard, but I am trying. Last year, the boy lost weight but in recent months began to gain it back rapidly. That’s when the county moved to take the child, records show. The mother said that when she found out that other kids and a sibling might be giving her son extra food, she tried to put a stop to it and explain to him that he could eat only certain foods. [/QUOTE] Link to article- > **[County places obese Cleveland Heights child in foster care](https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2011/11/obese_cleveland_heights_child.html)** > > The case plays into an emerging national debate that has some urging social-service agencies to step in when parents have failed to address a weight problem ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308/100 "2011-11-29T05:03:55Z")
The “only” current health problem is [sleep apnea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea)? Let’s see, is this the same sleep apnea that causes an increased risk of heart attacks, brain damage (awesome for a developing brain, I’m sure), and massive quality of life problems? Oh, it’s being treated? I’m sorry, I know there are a lot of CPAP users on this board. But it is absolutely not normal to become so fat that your are unable to physically keep your airways from collapsing in on themselves to the point where you need a machine to help you breathe. This is not like having braces or wearing glasses. It’s a major problem. If it is caused by obesity, it is a sign that something has gone massively, horribly wrong. CPAPs are not normal. Imagine how awesome he is going to feel on his prom night, when he sneaks off with his girlfriend to lose his virginity and falls asleep blissfully in her arms, and then he finds himself sputtering and gasping because\* he is so fat he needs a machine to breath\*. But don’t worry! The sleep apnea is being treated! Nevermind that there is no good reason for him to lugging a machine around to sleepovers. Nevermind that like this, he will never be able to buy a Eurail pass and bum around Europe on night trains, or be able to pass out at parties, or to snuggle his significant other without the Darth Vader effect. 200 lbs would be fat on me, a full grown adult. This is far outside of the realm of “heavy,” on an 8 year old. This kid is not being placed in foster care because he is fat. He is being placed in foster care because he has a preventable health problem, and his parents have not- despite having a year, and presumably having many occasions to work on it- make an effort to work on that problem. There are people with kids this big who go out and buy them several pizzas a day. If the situation is something like this (and I have to assume it is, considering that nobody likes taking someone’s kids away) and the parents are not only not getting medical care but actively sabotaging medical care, then yes, he should be put- at least until the family can get its act together- someplace where he can get proper nutrition and medical care. Frankly, if I were that obese as a child, I’d hope to have the same thing done to me. I am thankful every day that I am healthy, can enjoy physical activities, have an attractive figure that I am proud of, have internalized good habits, and can look forward to a long life free of the health risks of obesity. If someone- even my own parent- had been allowed to sabotage that when I was a child, I’d be more than pissed. Once you reach a certain age, it becomes extremely hard to ever reach a healthy weight. The damage that is being done here is likely life-long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohio-puts-200-pound-third-grader-in-foster-care/604308.md?page=6)