By fitsnews – July 24, 2009
The mother of a 555-pound fourteen-year-old (you read that right) was arrested in Travelers’ Rest, S.C. last month and charged with criminal neglect for letting her son get so fat.
Jerri Gray, the mother of fourteen-year-old Alexander Draper, says that she’s tried everything to control her son’s weight gain, but nothing has worked.
Obviously.
Now Gray is facing charges and her son has been ordered into foster care.
National child welfare advocates are watching the case closely, apparently looking to expand the legal definition of “child abuse” to include parents who let their kids get too fat – which we think is ridiculous.
South Carolina ranks poorly on obesity report cards, to be sure, which is something we’ve brought to light repeatedly in the past given the connection between obesity and chronic disease.
But bringing criminal charges against parents with fat kids?
Come on.
