Scottish Courts Briefly Take Obese Mother's Newborn Child

Overweight Family Raises Issue: If You and Your Kids Are Obese, Is It Neglect?

By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit

A severely obese family in Dundee, Scotland, whose newborn child was briefly taken from them by child protective services while the mother was still recovering in the hospital, is now gaining international attention over the issue of whether childhood obesity can be a sign of abuse or neglect.

The couple, whose names aren't being released, has six children and told the British media that child protection authorities warned them they face losing custody if they could not get their older children's weight under control.

According to The Times of London, authorities already removed two children, aged 3 and 4, from the family home, leaving three other children with the couple. Investigations showed that the 40-year-old mother weighed at least 322 pounds before she got pregnant with her sixth child, a toddler with the family weighed 56 pounds and an older sibling weighed at least 224 pounds by age 13.

The order to remove the baby from the parents, custody was reportedly overturned late last week after the couple promised to work with Dundee protective services to improve the health of all their children.

"My wife is absolutely over the moon, and I am really pleased and relieved too," the father, 54, told The Times of London. "We are going to have to give 110 percent to this and try and work with the social work department and the family's project."Read more...