Overweight teenagers taken into care due to poor home and health conditions

Obesity crackdown
An 11 year old girl using a set of weighing scales.
PA

A pair of “severely overweight” teenagers will be removed from their parents’ care after social services raised concerns about their health to a family court judge. 

Staff at West Sussex county council told the judge about their worries on the children’s weight, home conditions and a lack of guidance on personal care.

The local authority had provided Fitbits, also known as fitness trackers, and paid for gym membership for the family.

They also signed up to weight watchers.

But judge, Gillian Ellis, said there was no evidence of weight loss or compliance from the household since social services intervened.

He said they had not provided recordings from their Fitbits or attended the Weight Watchers appointments consistently.

“Everyone agrees that this is a very sad and unusual case, of a loving family, where the parents meet many of the basic needs of the children, but the local authority has been concerned that the parents are not meeting the children’s health needs, in that both children are severely overweight, and the parents have shown an inability to help the children manage this condition,” said the judge in her ruling.

“The case was such an unusual one because the children had clearly had some very good parenting, as they were polite, bright, and engaging,” she added.

Details of the case were published online on Wednesday.

Most recent figures published in 2014 disclosed that up to 74 obese children were estimated to have been taken into care over a five-year period across England, Wales and Scotland.

In one such case, a five-year-old girl was taken into care after her weight reached 10st 5lbs, more than three times the weight of a healthy child her age.

“The children had failed to engage consistently in exercise despite the local authority providing Fitbits and paying for gym membership. The children were supposed to provide recordings from their Fitbits, but this had not been done,” the judge added.

“The mother blamed lockdown for the inability to exercise, but exercise could still be taken in the home or by walking outside.”

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