Overweight boy can stay with mother (he has lost weight)

Overweight boy can stay with mother

Feb 27 1:45 PM US/Eastern



A grossly overweight eight-year-old boy who weighs four times the healthy weight of a child his age has been allowed by Social Services to stay with his family.

Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, weighed 15stone 8lb before Christmas and has since lost one-and-a-half stone thanks to intensive exercise and healthier eating.

Connor and his mother, Nicola McKeown, 35, attended a child protection conference with North Tyneside Council where social workers allowed the boy to stay with his family rather than being taken into care.

The hearing was held under Section 47 of the Children Act, which places a duty on the local authority to conduct an inquiry if it has "reasonable cause to suspect that a child... in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm".

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/paChildTues18OverweightboyUD.html

The wide shot was of the Mother smoking...dirty house...tattoos on her upper arm and sores on her lower arms with the kid in question eating in the backshot.
That said...I think the only interference from CPS should be to provide a dietitian and some education to the entire family.
That is much cheaper than removing the child.

The whole family, probably, has a problem too.

but the one thing that cannot be ignored is that when you are poor (and they appear to be) it is pretty easy to use convenience foods for meals. Foods that are packed with a lot of unhealthy ingredients. They are cheaper and take less time to fix than fresh foods and meats.

It costs more, and you get less.

It's not poverty--poor people can't afford to continually buy new bikes and beds for a kid who keeps breaking them. They say they can't eat fruit or veg:

Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, near Newcastle upon Tyne, has broken four beds and five bicycles. The family claims to have a history of intolerance to fruit or vegetables. ....One National Health Service source said: “We have attempted many times to arrange for Connor to have appointments with community and paediatric nutritionists, public health experts, school nurses and social workers to weigh and measure him and to address his diet, but the appointments have been missed.

“Taking the child into care or putting him on the child protection register is absolutely the last resort. We do not do these things lightly but we have got to consider what effect this life-style is having on his health. Child abuse is not just about hitting your children or sexually abusing them, it is also about neglect.”

The source added: “The long-term health effects of obesity such as diabetes are well known and it is concerning that Connor is more than twice the weight he should be. There has to be some parental responsibility.”

McKeown will appear on Tonight with Trevor McDonald on ITV tomorrow.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1434607.ece

But that seems to be the only normal thing about her. I think she's a food=love nut, perhaps. They showed footage of the kid sucking the meat and skin off a greasy chicken drumstick and licking his fingers, and then cramming chow into his face. He's too fat to tie his own shoes, apparently.

That was the biggest eight year old I've ever seen, though. He looks like a fat fifteen year old.

and she isn't.
I have two kids who basically ate the same things. One was always tall and thin and one was always short and dumpy. The shorter one was the most active one. Genes play a large part I think.

in addition to the equivalent of two large breakfasts in the morning, a full pizza all to himself for lunch, and a massive dinner seem to be the diet of a 200 pounder.

Connor's family say he eats "chips with everything", loves curry and snacks on sausage sandwiches, burgers, chocolate biscuits and "junk food all day long while sitting at the computer".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2022757,00.html

I don't think genetics are at issue, here. I think drugging/shutting a kid up with food might be, though. Clearly, his extended family is at fault. He's a big kid, sure, but that's too big...

It really surprised me to find out he was only eight.

I have an eight year old grandson and you could probably fit four of him into one of the lads pants. Such a shame.

For a mother to allow an 8 year old to have control over this household- which he clearly does - is just wrong and she needs help.