In our last post, we began discussing the increasing prevalence of the issue of obesity in custody battles. According to family law practitioners, increasing obesity rates have pushed the issue into the arena of custody determinations, forcing judges to decide whether poor dietary and exercise habits may be grounds for removing children from a parent's custody.

As we have previously mentioned on this blog, some experts have argued that inadequate or unskillful parenting resulting in severely obese children constitutes child abuse. According to supporters of this notion, parents who act in this may should face the possibility of losing custody of their children. Some states-including California, Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas-already have some legal precedent that may support loss of custody on such grounds, though most don't.

Under the traditional framework of child abuse espoused by most states, children may only be removed from their parents' custody where there is reason to believe the children will suffer imminent serious physical harm, injury or death. Obesity doesn't currently fit into that model.

It is well known that obesity increases the risk of developing numerous health problems, including coronary heart disease, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and mental health disorders. Recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the obesity rate among children at around 17 percent of the population, which translates to around 12.5 million children and teens. Those rates have nearly tripled since 1980.

Obesity is sometimes one issue among many in cases where judges decide to remove custody from a parent, but it is an issue nevertheless. As obesity becomes more and more prevalent in the general population, it is no surprise that it is coming up more and more in custody battles.

Source: Fox News, "Growing Role of Obesity in Child Custody Battles," October 31, 2011.