Canada: Judge to rule on whether obesity is factor in man's fitness for fatherhood

Submitted by Mastodon on Thu, 2012-06-21 23:59

Article here. Excerpt:

'OTTAWA — In a family court case to be ruled on soon, a judge will, in part, decide whether a 38-year-old Ottawa man is too fat to be a dad.

The Royal Ottawa Hospital's family court clinic, which does court-ordered assessments on parents, is now using obesity as a factor when deciding if parents are fit to raise children.

In court filings by child-welfare authorities in the case of an obese Ottawa father who is fighting for custody of his two boys, a doctor at the family court clinic wrote:

"Finally, (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.'

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... will consider a mother's weight regarding her fitness for mom-hood?

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2012-06-22 01:53

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."

Looks to me like the family court doctor is feeling slighted by the man not taking his orders. It isn't about what the father is capable of, it is the risk of what "could" happen because he doesn't obey, regardless of his success so far. It is about the child services having an anti dad mindset, finding any excuse, and getting pissy when he defies their demands but still overcomes their excuses.

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Submitted by Kratch on Fri, 2012-06-22 06:36