This is the information we have thus far:
In re Kayla T. v. Linda T.
Family Court of New York, Chemung County
2007 NY Slip Op 27078
Decided February 23, 2007
Opinion by Judge David M. Brockway
In this Family Court of New York ruling, Judge David Brockway ordered that a
13 year-old girl be removed from her parents' custody because of their
failure to address her morbid obesity. The girl, Kayla, was originally
brought to the attention of the justice system in 2003, when she was first
removed from her home because of concerns about her health. After several
years of moving between court placements and her parents' home, Kayla's
parents were given custody but with certain conditions, including regularly
taking Kayla to a gym and participating in a nutrition program. Testimony
from Kayla's pediatric gastroenterologist and nutritionist indicated that
the girl's weight -- in excess of 250 lbs. -- was "simply due to excessive
caloric intake and a sedentary lifestyle." Other physicians involved in
Kayla's care determined that her "weight problems are not organic in nature
and are the result of poor parental modeling and control of food intake."
The Court found that the parents did not take Kayla to the gym, and did not
actively participate in amending Kayla's diet, and thus were in willful
violation of many of the custody conditions. The Court also found that
although there is no precedent in New York for removing a child from
parental custody due to morbid obesity, several other states, including
California , Iowa, Indiana, New Mexico, and Texas, have "recognized morbid
obesity as an actionable issue." The Court ordered that Kayla be placed in
the custody of the Commissioner of the Chemung County Department of Social
Services.
It is astounding in this day and age that not taking someone to the gym is sufficient reason to sever custody ties. The courts findings do not show any form of physical abuse, emotional abuse or other danger to the child. This does show that the nutritionist was alarmist about the child's weight and that apparently, there was a breakdown in communications at some point between the court system and the parents.
The answer to this is not to remove the child from her parents' custody. There has to be a better way. It is also amazing that they use New Mexico (Anamarie Martinez-Regino) and Indiana (Dakota Main) as "precedents" for "removing a child from parent custody" when in both New Mexico and Indiana, the courts REVERSED their decisions and restored custody to the parent(s) because the parents had done nothing wrong.
Please take this opportunity to contact the local and state officials in New York and tell them to find a better solution to this tragedy in the making. In both of the cases of Anamarie and Dakota, terrible mental harm was done to both the children and the parents. Let's end this quickly and BRING KAYLA HOME!
Please do not criticize or "flame" the local or state politicians, as that will accomplish nothing. Do let them know that you want them to do everything in their power to reunite this teen with her parents and family and to help find a better long-term solution that does not depend upon the child's weight. A proper assessment of the girl's health needs to be obtained by objective sources and her mental and emotional well-being needs to be put first.
Chemung County Legislature
John H. Hazlett Building
203 Lake Street
PO Box 588
Elmira, NY 14902-0588
Phone: 607.737.2066
Fax: 607.737.2851
The Chemung County Legislature is comprised of 15 elected legislators representing the 15 legislative districts within the County. The legislature is the legislative, appropriating, and policy determining body of the County.
U.S. Congressman: Randy Kuhl pf the 19th District of New York
Bath District Office
P.O. Box 153
22 Buell Street
Bath, New York 14810
Phone: 607.776.9142
Fax: 607.776.9159
Email webform: http://www.house.gov/formkuhl/IMA/issue.htm
New York Senators of the 110th Congress
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D - NY)
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.4451
Fax: 202.228.0282
TTY/TDD: 202.224.6821
Email webform: http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
Senator Charles E. Schumer (D - NY)
757 Third Avenue
Suite 17-02
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212.486.4430
Fax: 212.486.7693
TDD: 212.486.7803
Email webform: http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
