Globe&Mail story on obese children and removal from home

I know there was an awful uproar last week when it was inferred by the media that Dr. Ludwig had suggested removing children from their homes in cases of extreme obesity.
Andre Picard is an excellent health reporter for the Globe and Mail, and he sets the story straight in this thoughtful piece -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/andre- picard/when-a-childs-obesity-is-life-threatening-we-should-i ntervene/article2104131/

I understand where both Dr. Ludwig & Dr. Freedhoff are coming from. Yes, there should be intervention of some kind. I just don't think CAS should be the organization to do that. They don't have the manpower or resources. That said, I dont know who would or should intervene.

I have big issues with CAS in general. My neighbours used to beat their daughter. CAS was called dozens of times. CAS never removed her. There was never any follow up and every call resulted in a new case worker showing up. Of course this ended when the mother finally beat the daughter to death. If they don't have the resources to handle these cases, how are they going to handle cases that need serious medical intervention and support.

I am so saddened by that story, Simona.  As someone who works in child/youth services, it truly breaks my heart.

With regard to having CAS intervene - my gawd, they have so many cases reported to them each day already.  Reported cases are rated by reported severity and placed "in cue", dependant on when the situation can be investigated.  When on earth would these people have time to deal with this, I'm not sure. 

Having said that, I truly do believe that some families require intervention with regard to severely obese children.  It has been my experience that the obesity is just the tip of the iceberg in many cases. 

If it were up to me (ahhh.. what a wonderful world it would be, but I digress....) CAS would start a partnerhship with the Ministry of Health to create a family education program with regard to nutrition and activity.  Classes (including cooking classes for kids/parents), hands-on shopping trips to the grocery store, label reading education, social work support, monitoring, family get-together evenings, etc etc etc.

I think I see a new job in my future! lol

 can we nominate homes?... cause I have a acquaintance that should have ALL her children removed... 

steady diet of honey buns and taco bell! 

There is SUCH hypocrisy with all this.    This week, 2 parents (NOT ONE) but 2 parents left their 1 month old child in a hot baking minivan. NO charges were laid?!  They said it was a communication.   I call BS.    The arbitrary nature of how govt, police work etc leaves far too many holes in a system to ever make that idea work. (obese children or otherwise)

Like the above poster:   I've had 2 episodes with CAS that leaves me thinking they are a bunch of dolts.

Appx 14 years ago, I was showing a home in the east end of Ottawa.   The client, a school teacher.   Long/short of it, we ended up reporting a day care worker in a private home who had barricaded a child in a toy house in the dark in the basement.  CAS did NOTHING.   We were 3 women who witnessed this, and NOTHING was done.   Fast forward to 2 years ago... On the news the SAME person we reported, finally was charged with neglect, child endangerment and abuse.  Neighbors interviewed and all said they've been trying to get CAS to act for years, but to no avail.

The second one is hard to explain, but suffice to say, CAS knows that the mother has a horrible temper and has wailed on her kids in the past.  Nothing ever gets done there.   My only hope is that at some point the oldest one will grow up big enough to start wailing back on her mother.

Heartbreaking.

A note to people concerned about CAS intervention:

If you place a call to report suspected abuse, do not assume that the case is necessarily "in cue" to be investigated quickly.  If you witness further abuse/negelct, report again. Continue to do so.  The more reports received, the faster things get dealth with in many cases.

And, as an aside, if there is something immediate that needs to be done for a child - I do not hesitate to call the police and THEN CAS.  They work closely together on these issues and the police (sometimes) (ok, often) are quicker to respond.

Just my (way more than) 2 cents.

from my experience with CAS... they have their good and bad points...

my son was 10 got suspended from school.. said "Oh my god my mom is going to kill me" I had CAS at my door with the police they were ready to take all 3 of my kids cause the principal called... I asked the worker if she has never heard that expression... she looked at me with a blank stare.

FF>>> 1 year ago.

I was sitting in my friends back yard and heard "SMACK THUMP CRASH SMASH SCREAMS.. a child screams.. followed by a grown up scream (I assumed @ the kid) no wonder why your mom abandoned you look at you you are a lazy pig.. everyone hates you and I am stuck with you cause you are my paycheque"

I asked my friend WTF???.. she replied that that was a FOSTER HOME!!!!! I called the police... they came did their investigation... claim it was a misunderstanding... 3 days later 2 of the other foster kids (infants 6 months and 1 year) were removed from the home.. a week after that the kid that was bring yelled @ was taken away... the foster parents had to undergo anger management classes.. and then GOT THE KIDS BACK!!!!!...

infants were returned to their bio moms... neighbor informed my Friend that she cant get any more kids cause that was not her first anger management session... BUT on the bright side she gets to adopt the 10 year old boy who she was screaming at..


on the bright side.. when my son came forward and finally told me he was sexually abused by a family friend.. CAS had my back got the family into therapy and sat with me everyday in court

For you, and for your son. 

Story's like this really get to me! I'm a early childhood educator,mother of 4 plus a foster child that I took in from my family circle cause parents were on drug's. It makes me so sad that In the wold we live in at the time we live in that those thing's can still happened, unbelievable.

I agree that there is more to the root then food for kid's with extreme obesity! Do believe that in lot's of case educating parent's/children would make a huge difference and save the province lot's of money on medical in the long run!  A two for one deal!

Do I beleive CAS should intervene....Nope, nada, never....For one, they have too much on their plates as it is....

But I too have had issues with CAS.  Not just my children, when they were sexually abused by their father, (CAS never allowed charged to be laid against my ex-husband because he lives in a different province) but with my husband now and my step son.  This child was removed four times, that is right four times from his mother.  And still they are allowing her to have supervised access, to lead to eventually having him overnight again.  She even had her other son removed from her.  CAS answeres us that they are working with her for the benefit of her son.....The child has post traumatic stress disorder, adhd, obessive behaviour disorder all assessed by cheo.  And the therapis said this was all due to the neglect, abuse and other things that the mother put my poor step son through.  We have to dish out thousands of dollars for a lawyer to finally getting full custody, but with the condition that we apply with what CAS is saying regarding visitation for my step son......

So No I don't believe CAS should intervene...

Just my two cents also
Linda