Mom Accused of Neglecting 555-Pound Son by Overfeeding Him
The arrest of a woman accused of allowing her 14-year-old son to reach 555 pounds raises the issue: Does allowing a child to become dangerously overweight amount to criminal neglect?
Jerri Gray of Travelers Rest, S.C., was charged in June and her son, Alexander Draper, was put in foster care, USA Today reports.
The issue has arisen in other states as well, the story says. Courts in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, New Mexico and Indiana have held that medical neglect includes childhood obesity, according to a 2008 report published by the Child Welfare League of America. California reached a different result.
In the South Carolina case, Gray’s lawyer, Grant Varner, told USA Today that the case could set a dangerous precedent that “opens Pandora’s box.”
Varner claims Gray tried to follow nutrition advice for her son, but he was able to get food on his own when he wasn’t with his mother.
“Where do you go next?” he asked. “What about the parents of every 16-year-old in Beverly Hills who’s too thin? Are they going to start arresting parents because their child is too thin?”
Virginia Williamson, a lawyer with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, counters that her agency sought custody of the boy because his mother wasn’t meeting his medical needs. The department “would not take action based on a child’s weight alone,” she told USA Today.
