Too Fat to Adopt a Baby?
That’s what officials told a hopeful father in the UK. Damien and Charlotte Hall have been married for 11 years, and after trying unsuccessfully to have a baby of their own, decided to try to adopt a child.
But officials in the city of Leeds in northern England told Damien that he would have to lose weight first as his risk of becoming ill or dying was too high.
Damien weighs almost 350 lbs, but says he doesn’t drink or smoke, and says that he walks regularly and is very active.
There is no official upper weight limit for potential adoptive parents in the UK, but very overweight or obese people are likely to be turned down. The Adoption Panel in Leeds says that they are “unlikely to approve applicants with a BMI over 40 because of the long-term health risks.”
The Adoption Panel told the couple that Damien could have another medical in six months time, and they could reconsider their case if he lost weight.
The couple are sad and say that even though they accept that Damien is overweight, and know that he is more at risk from heart disease and other serious health issues, that he doesn’t feel unfit or unhealthy. They say that surely, life with loving parents is better than life in a children’s home, even with the higher chance that he may fall ill? After all, we never know what might happen to even the slimmest and fittest of us.
Currently, thousands of babies and children are awaiting adoption in the UK.
Is it right to discriminate against prospective adoptive parents because of their weight?
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Kelly says...
This couple appeared on a tv show in the UK to try and help his infertility which they felt was due to his obesity and her polycystic ovary syndrome.
They admitted to consuming masses of high fat, high sugar low nutritional foods – just pure junk. He also admitted to sometimes having his morning cereal with COKE instead of milk.
THOSE are not the actions of people who lead a healthy lifestyles and are fit and feel well.
Nevermind the health risks imposed on both of them fro m the lives they lead – what about the child who is placed in that home? How will that child ever be able to grow up getting enough nutrients, and learning about living a healthy lifestyle from people who live like that?
He has been given the opportunity to change his lifestyle and re-apply in six months, but instead he has declared that he can’t lose weight under pressure and decided to sit and moan about it. If he really wanted to, he’d join a gym and ditch the junk food.
I am about to embark on having my first child, and when my husband and I decided we wanted to have a baby, the first thing we did was make sure we were as fit and healthy as we could be. Not just for conception and pregnancy, but for our lives as parents.
It’s a shame this couple don’t feel the same.