Childhood Obesity And Abuse

Well, at least someone is discussing nutritional child abuse, even if they are doing it wrong.

"When does severe childhood obesity become a child protection issue? This is just one of the ethical, medical and legal questions confronting doctors as they deal with increasing rates of childhood obesity, according to a series of articles in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Shirley Alexander from Westmead Children's Hospital and her colleagues say severe childhood obesity is a common problem that can result in acute and chronic life-threatening complications. Their article examines the case of a severely obese child whose parents were unwilling or unable to adhere to management programs aimed at helping her lose weight.

'We argue that in a sufficiently extreme case, notification of child protection services may be an appropriate professional response,' the report says."

The clearly wrong part is waiting for "a sufficiently extreme case" to prompt action.

Though this language can be interpreted broadly, the context shows what these remiss docs mean:

"...a severely obese child whose parents were unwilling or unable to adhere to management programs aimed at helping her lose weight."

This is certainly waiting too long.

In the US, there is a definition of child abuse and neglect promulgated by the Feds, echoed more or less by each state.

Waiting for a condition affecting a child to become "severe" is abuse in and of itself and makes those who adopt the wait-and-see attitude complicit in the abuse.

This is doubly true for those persons who are mandated by law to report child abuse and neglect, e.g., physicians.

If you are interested in preventing nutritional child abuse, go here and make your voice heard and read this to improve the lives of kids by holding accountable those who fail in their responsibilities to children.