Should children be taken away from their parents because of poor nutrition?

What people always fail to consider in these situations is that it's not just the parents' faults in the case of a child's nutrition. If the kid eats school lunches he is subject to their nutritional standards, which are not good. The FDA recently declared PIZZA a VEGETABLE! If the school lunch is required to pull from all the food groups then the kid could very well have pizza in place of carrots or an apple. That's not healthy and it's not the parents' fault. Yes the argument could be made that it is still the parents' fault because they could send a sack lunch but A. there is no guaranteeing when lunchtime rolls around Johnny won't trade his healthy apple for two of Sally's four cookies and/or B. if the family is on the reduced price or free lunch programs, it is more economical for them to allow the school/government to provide food. Also, as someone else pointed out, her family lived on macaroni and cheese and Happy Meals because they are cheap. Healthy food so often is not. Fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, juices, lean meats... these things are all the more expensive items in the stores. Let's flip flop the prices and make a gallon of milk 79 cents and a box of macaroni and cheese $4 and see how that changes the perspective. Let's put a McD's grilled chicken salad, the one with all the extra stuff that is intended to be a meal, on the $1 value menu and make the two value menu cheeseburgers $5 and see which one people buy more of.

This is a tricky question, but I believe that any parent who allows a child to eat food that damages their health or results in gross obesity really needs to re-assess their own parenting style. These things aren't in the best interests of the child and so could be considered a form of neglect or abuse.

Unfortunately,Divorce proceedings can get nasty,with the kids caught in the middle..so one parent not having custody would be saying the kids had better nutrition when they were still around? that would be an interesting body of proof...At the same time,I could see the argument that allowing the kids to become obese when they were not before could be taken as a form of abuse..but then how would that turn out for them having been through their parents divorce,being in custody of one parent,and then ending up in care without either Parent having a say in their welfare? Could a relationship go so bad that one parent would decide if they couldn't have the children,neither of them would?

When I went through my divorce, my ex would not pay until it was court ordered and that took over 6 months! We lived on Kraft Mac N Cheese and happy meals. My kids were not overweight and still are slim. It was how we survived a rough time. My ex should be arrested for letting them live that way but that was how he controlled people. Today my kids are 17 and 19 and now I cannot possibly control what they eat outside of our home. They work and have their own money so they can buy what they want. I know my son loves Taco Bell - lol and my daughter loves pizza. I try to tell them about moderation and that you appreciate things more if you don't always have it all the time. I see stories about little kids weighing 300 pounds but that could come from eating too much of any kind of food - even if it's nutritious. I was overweight as a child - chubby. My mom did not get us fast food but I guess I ate too much of regular foods. lol. I guess that each case would have to be looked at and investigated closely to find out the true cause. I think the schools could get involved and have guidance counselors talk to the kids to see if there really is a problem or not.

There are two reasons why those parent (dad or mom) give them such a food like that. First, those parent didn't have an ability to give better food rather then that.It's happen because of economic reason. Second, the parent have an ability to give better food but prefer to give the food that you have mentioned. Both of it can harm the health of the kids and that can be used to persuing others about adore rights of the kids.

This is a tricky one but I view letting your child become grossly overweight as a form of abuse. As in any case of abuse the child should be removed from the bad or destructive influence. If a child's future good health is in serious danger then yes I do think they should be taken away from the parent who is 'abusing' them, and be allowed to live with the one who loves and cares for them enough to monitor their feeding-habits.

No! I think a better idea would be to educate the parents. YOu could take them away from the parents and put them in what...a foster home? Is there any guarantee that they will be fed more nutricious meals by doing that? Also you have to consider the emotional trama to the child having been taken from his home and family and placed with strangers.

Like others have said, it depends on what you mean. If you mean the parents are giving the children nothing but junk food, maybe not take the children away, but to teach the parents how and what to serve their children. Problem is, who will teach them? Most companies will say their "product" is nutritious, (ever read a box of pop tarts?) yet the product is nothing but junk. This is why I do my own research and watch what I buy for my family and try to never eat out..(I put try in italics because my husband overrides decisions on what to feed my son, but only occasionally, if it was up to me, he'd never get fast food)