Addressing childhood obesity among children in care: The missing link to promoting physical well-being outcomes

ABSTRACT

Information on the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States abounds. However, the impact of overweight and obesity specifically among children receiving child welfare services (children in care) has received little attention. Although relatively little is known about obesity among children in care, limited studies suggest children in foster care are disproportionally affected, with children in long-term foster care or group homes at highest risk. Although child welfare work has not historically focused on reducing and preventing childhood obesity, child welfare agencies have an obligation to protect children’s physical and mental well-being, and the social work profession is uniquely qualified to deliver evidence-based obesity mitigation efforts among children in care.

KEYWORDS:

• Child welfare
• childhood obesity
• foster care

Notes

1. Unfortunately, childhood obesity may be under diagnosed. Current methods may fail to detect up to 25% of children who have excess body fat (Javed et al., 2014).

2. The responsibility of child welfare agencies to define obesity as medical neglect and remove obese children from their homes is widely debated, and outside of the scope of this paper which focuses on obesity while in care. For more information on obesity as a form of medical neglect and the role of child protection see Garel (2014), Goldbas (2014), Jones et al. (2014), and Lang (2012).