Obese Man Denied Adoption Bid

[Lynne]

A Missouri judge denied a couple their adoption bid because the husband was 558 pounds at the time they were trying to adopt. The child they wanted to adopt is a relative, already in their care, and the couple were already foster parents.

The man has had gastric bypass surgery in hopes that he and his wife will be allowed to adopt the child. That's quite a sacrifice. Life after gastric bypass surgery is one of vomiting, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, high likelihood of gallstones due to a low-fat diet, and possible death due to complications.

I feel the judge was over-the-top on this issue, that h/she was punishing the couple because of the man's weight.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070825/ap_on_...bym_aGr4CRH2ocA



Man has gastric surgery in adoption bid By GRANT SLATER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 24, 9:55 PM ET


DALLAS - A man who weighed 558 pounds when a Missouri judge prevented him from adopting a child he and his wife had taken into their home underwent gastric bypass surgery Friday in a bid to win the child back.

Gary Stocklaufer, a 34-year-old truck driver, and his wife claim a judge unfairly discriminated against them because of his weight in deciding to give 4-month-old Max to another couple for possible adoption. The infant from Arlington, who is related to the Stocklaufers, had lived with them since he was a week old.

This is considered the first case where a couple seeking to adopt has resorted to surgery in the increasingly prevalent practice of denying parents adoptions because they are obese...

 

[Tames D]

I feel bad for this guy and his wife. I don't think I've mentioned this before on this forum, but my wife and I adopted our two boys. We really didn't want to have kids and were more interested in our careers and social/travel lifestyle. But life sometimes takes a strange turn.

However, to make a long story short, a very young girl made two mistakes about 21 months apart and couldn't afford to give these two boys a good home (two different fathers, both bailed. She was a teen).

I hate to see potentially loving parents denied the process due to the opinion of another.

 

[Carol]

This story is disgusting. The child is related to the overweight man and his wife, plus the child has lived with them since he was a week old...and the judge takes the child away just because the man is obese????

 

[terryl965]

A person is willing to give a loving home to a child in need and this is what he gets for his trouble, some people can be such jerks.

 

[Kacey]

While I understand the concerns about the man's weight - having read the rest of the article, and seeing that the couple were allowed to adopt another child (also a relative) by the same judge, with the husband then the same size at the first adoption that he was when the second adoption was denied... horrible.

 

[Lynne]

The judge is the person who should be brought into question. The decision was plain cruel.

I'm proud of the man for being driven enough to have gastric bypass surgery. I just hope he isn't worse off for it. (And I hope the judge isn't smart enough to be cognizant of the complications that can result because h/she could bring that up as future health issues!)