London – Authorities are considering taking an 8-year- old boy who weighs 218 pounds into protective custody unless his mother improves his diet, officials said Monday.
Social-service officials will meet with family members today to discuss the health of Connor McCreaddie, who weighs more than three times the average for his age.
The health agencies organizing the meeting said they “have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.”
Officials would not say whether Connor suffered from a medical condition that led to his obesity, citing privacy issues.
An unidentified health official was quoted as telling The Sunday Times that taking custody of Connor would be a last resort, but said the family had repeatedly failed to attend appointments with nurses, nutritionists and social workers.
Dr. Colin Waine, the director of the National Obesity Forum in Nottingham, called Connor’s lifestyle “extremely dangerous,” adding that he is at risk of developing diabetes in his teens and cardiovascular and nervous- system problems in his 20s.
“He’s really at risk of dying by the time he’s 30,” Waine said.
Connor’s case attracted national attention after his mother, Nicola McKeown, allowed an ITV News crew to film his day-to-day life over the course of a month. His mother said he steals and hides food, frustrating her efforts to help him. He eats double or triple what a normal 7-year-old would, she said.
“If I didn’t give him enough at teatime, then he would just go on at us all night for snacks and stuff,” she told ITV.
Connor, who lives with his mother and sister, has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health, and is targeted by bullies.
“People pick on us because of my weight,” Connor told ITV. “They call us fat. It makes us feel sick of the nutters always shouting at us.”
