Wednesday Weirdness-Obesity Causes Loss of Parental Rights in Canada

Welcome to Wednesday Weirdness, a recurring theme where we post something truly weird and wacky in adoption or child welfare.

From Ottawa, Canada, today’s installment is a CPS overreach case. A “loving” and “intelligent” father who lives in a “suitable” home and has no abuse or neglect claims against him has lost custody of his two sons . His  sons, aged 4 and 6  and both with special needs, are promptly being put up for adoption.

Once the father weighed 525 pounds. He dieted on his own and now weighs 380 pounds. He refused a gastric bypass surgery. That was considered a strike against him.  He once sold cannibas. That is strike two. But strike three seems to be the projection by the CPS workers  and a doctor that his weight loss will take so much time that he won’t have time to parent his children. “In a court-ordered assessment, a doctor noted the father’s weight as a problem to be a parent.

“Finally, (the father) has struggled with obesity for years, which impacts significantly on most aspects of his life including (his) functioning as a parent. He was short of breath or winded in simply walking short distances about the clinic and he lacks both the mobility and stamina required to keep up with young and active children.

“Once again, (the father’s) strong personal beliefs on issues, including weight loss, make it difficult for him to accept the opinions of specialists on such matters,” the doctor wrote in the assessment report.

The doctor continued: “(The father) needs to address his own medical and psychological affairs. These would include his cannabis addiction and his level of physical fitness.”

According to court filings, a doctor had recommended the sometimes deadly “obesity surgery,” but the man declined and instead “had his own approach to weight loss.”

“Quite frankly,” a doctor wrote, “I do not believe he followed through with even one of our dietary recommendations.”

“Regardless of how much weight (the father) may have lost to date, he will continue to be at risk related to his obesity for some considerable time. This will include not only his risk for major life threatening events, but also a lack of mobility and proneness to injury as was exemplified by (the father’s) hobbling around on crutches when last seen individually. (The father’s) health issues are magnified by his anti-authoritarian traits and refusal to follow recommended treatments. This also raises questions to his ability to make proper decisions in regards to his sons’ medical, educational or psychological needs.”

The father, who hasn’t seen his boys in a year, says, “I was never too fat to be a dad.”

Where are the children?

“Both boys are in foster care, one in a home run by a  single mother with five other children.” [So one is in a home with five others and they separated the children too!]

The father is threatening to starve himself to death.

Obese father loses children to adoption on judge’s order

[Ottawa Citizen 6/21/12 by Gary Dimmock]