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Two teenagers were removed from their parents’ care after social services raised concerns about their weight to a family court judge. Judge Gillian Ellis has ruled the Sussex children need to be placed in long-term foster care. She described the case as “very sad and unusual”.
West Sussex County Council social services staff had raised their concerns to a family court judge. The local authority had provided Fitbits (fitness trackers) and paid for the gym membership for the family, who had also signed up for Weight Watchers.
But Ellis said months after the proceedings in family court began, there had been no reduction in the children’s weight and that they had not provided recordings of their Fitbits or attended to Weight Watchers appointments consistently.
The judge said the children’s parents did not seem to understand the seriousness of the concerns raised by social service staff and had failed to set limits and promote healthy eating and exercise. She said children needed the chance to “learn healthier ways of living” and improve their health by losing weight.
The judge said there were also concerns about poor living conditions at home and the lack of personal care advice.
“Everyone agrees that this is a very sad and unusual case of a loving family where parents meet many basic needs of the children, but the local authority is concerned that the parents do not meet the health needs of the children, in that the two children are seriously overweight and that the parents have shown an inability to help the children to manage this condition ”, declared the judge in its decision.
She added: “The case was so unusual because the kids clearly had great parents, because they were polite, bright and engaging.”
Details of the case emerged in a ruling by Ellis posted online on Wednesday. She had reviewed the evidence in a private family court hearing in Sussex last year. The family could not be identified from media reports on the case.
Ellis added, “The kids had failed to exercise consistently despite the local authority providing Fitbits and paying for the gym membership. The children were supposed to provide recordings of their Fitbits, but this had not been done. The mother blamed the lockdown for the inability to exercise, but the exercise could still be done at home or while walking outside. The family’s attendance at Weight Watchers had been irregular. “
In 2012, a five-year-old girl was taken into care after her weight reached 10 pounds 5 pounds, more than three times the weight of a healthy child her age. She was placed in foster care by the Council of Newport, Wales.
Figures from 2014 revealed that up to 74 morbidly obese children were reportedly taken into care over a five-year period in England, Wales and Scotland.
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