Ohio puts 200lb third grader in foster care

CLEVELAND - An Ohio third-grader weighing more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care when county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

The Plain Dealer reports that the 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

The Ohio Health Department estimates more than 12 percent of third-graders statewide are severely obese. The removal of the Cleveland child is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care for a strictly weight-related issue.

Lawyers for the mother say the county is overreaching in taking the child. They say the medical problems the boy is at risk for do not yet pose an imminent danger to his health.