JAIL THEM

According to the Daily Telegraph, a Dr Shirley Alexander from the Children's Hospital at Westmead (Sydney, NSW, Australia) wants parents to be disciplined in cases where their child becomes too overweight, and children to be taken away from their parents if they become too fat! Under her proposal, child protection agencies would be called in to seize a child " when parents have repeatedly failed to address diet problems".

At first glance Dr Alexander's proposal may seem extreme but when you look into problems of malnutrition (which surely must include obesity) the proposal doesn't go far enough.

Under the Criminal Code a person who, having the lawful care or charge of a child under 16 years, causes harm to the child by any prescribed conduct that the person knew or ought reasonably to have known would be likely to cause harm to the child commits a crime. That crime is punishable by imprisonment for seven (7) years.

Harm in that sense means any detrimental effect of a significant nature on the child’s physical, psychological or emotional well-being, whether temporary or permanent, and prescribed conduct means failing to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, medical treatment, accommodation or care when it is available to the person from his or her own resources; or failing to take all lawful steps to obtain adequate food, clothing, medical treatment, accommodation or care when it is not available to the person from his or her own resources.

Perhaps the champions of health should set about a test case in which a declaration is sought on the definition of "food" for, to our knowledge, it does not exist in legislation. Isn't that ludicrous, if not down-right abhorrent. We believe that food should be defined as that which is wholesome and nutritious.

The community has a moral and legal obligation to care for children but we are certainly not doing it. And we are certainly falling short of the mark by suggesting that children should be taken away from their parents only when the children, in extreme cases, become obese.