19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|Breaking News, Weather, ExclusivesEditorial: Heavy-Handed Intervention

Editorial: Heavy-Handed Intervention

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CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) -

The intervention by big brother in the lives of supposedly free, law-abiding citizens has never seemed more brazen than the recent action by Cuyahoga County case workers to snatch an eight-year old Cleveland Heights boy from his family because he is overweight.

That's right---they got a court order and took the child to foster care not because of abuse or neglect but because he weighs two hundred pounds and the Department of Children and Family Services says, ah well, that's too heavy. But who is it who makes that ruling? Some bureaucrat or judicial functionary arbitrarily decides that two hundred pounds is too heavy for a child.  What about one hundred eighty? 

The case workers say they have been working with the family for a year before asking the juvenile court for custody of the child. And so---incredibly-- it is for failure to follow a diet that allows a government agency to forcibly appropriate a child from what would appear to be an otherwise stable family.   Lawyers for the mother who is an elementary school teacher say the county has overreached and we couldn't agree more. It's an abuse of government power. Write and let me know what you think.  I'm Bill Applegate and here's the address.

Editorial Response
1717 E.12th Street
Cleveland, OH 44114

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