Obese dad plans hunger strike after kids ordered adopted | CTV News
I can't figure out how to embed the video that accompanies this story, so here's a still. The video isn't really useful, anyway, since the law in Ottawa prohibits his identity from being revealed, I suppose because it would result in effectively revealing the identity of his children. Eh, all the video really shows is the guy from this angle talking to a reporter, and some clips of him with his face pixellated out moving down some stairs and using some exercise equipment.
So the story goes something like this: fat guy previously weighed over 500 pounds; he has lost over 100 pounds recently and is down to 360. He has two sons, aged 5 and 6, who lived with their mother (his ex-wife) until a year ago, when the mother was hospitalized for a mental breakdown and suspected drug overdose. The boys were placed in foster care, pending an investigation regarding their return to a parent's custody. An agency that is responsible for such things evaluated fatman to assess his fitness as a parent, and concluded that the children should not be placed with him. As a result, a judge ruled earlier this week that the boys should be placed for adoption.
The story purports that their decision was based on his weight. The CTV article cites a report from the evaluating clinic that states that the father's history of struggling with obesity would impact his ability to keep up with the children. Apparently, no one on the government's side was allowed to discuss the case. For his part, fatman claims his weight was one of the reasons he was denied custody; he apparently has had some brushes with the law, but claims he has taken anger management classes and given up marijuana, so those things shouldn't be a problem now.
In the interview, the guy says that he is a stress-eater. However, he planned a hunger strike to protest the ruling.
I read some of the "related stories," and it sounds like this man, at least at one point during the evaluation process, could barely walk a few steps without huffing and puffing. His breasts appear to be about a C cup, even now, but maybe he doesn't lose weight in his bust first as many women do.
The big question is, can a person be too fat to parent? Additionally, how fat is too fat? Is obesity an issue because it impairs the parent physically, or because it represents the parent's inability to keep themselves healthy and thus presumes they will inflict their dietary and exercise shortfalls on the children?
One thing that struck me was if this guy can barely get around, he surely can't be out there committing too many crimes, and if he was, he could reasonably be expected to be apprehended by the law without much difficulty.
And that makes me wonder if the guy has a job.
I don't know how Canadian law is, but there are certainly people in the U.S. who get a government check for their obesity disability. I know, because my neighbor's daughter's boyfriend does. I wondered the other day if I should look into this, because I am one of those fatasses that leans on their cart while shopping. I did this the other day when I went to Meijer for some shit, and I leaned on that buggy all the way back out to the parking lot until I loaded my stuff into the car and then scanned the receipt because the total seemed higher than I thought it should be. And damn, if they hadn't charged me $48.80 plus tax for my carton of Marlboro "Special Blends." I've been smoking the SB's for several months now, since a cashier at Circle K told me they were $8-$10 cheaper than the non-SB's. So I marched my ass, sans cart, back into the store with the cigs and the receipt, and maybe it was the 95-degree heat and humidity, maybe it was my fatass, maybe it was both, but I was sweating and breathless by the time I got to the service desk. Oh, maybe my cig-damaged lungs played a part, too. Anyhow, I told the young woman at the desk this HAD TO BE WRONG, since just 9 days before I'd paid $30.98 plus tax for these at Circle K, and I showed her the Circle K receipt. She scanned the fucking carton and said, "yes, that is the correct price," and I said, "duh, that's what scans, but it has to be wrong." She told me they didn't refund cigarettes, so I asked for the store manager. He looked at my receipt, checked the time, said, "go ahead and give her the refund." And then I had to stop at Circle K for cigs, a trip a couple miles out of the way that I'd wanted to avoid, to get cigs. They were $32.85 including tax. It was worth it to save almost $19.
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