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Fattism' and Adoption

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Date:6 NOV 2009

HH Judge Geoffrey Kamil CBE

We seem to live in an age when even the desire to create an 'airbrush perfect society' has extended to the field of adoption. I was recently reminded of a news report from January 2009 containing the headline 'man told he is too fat to adopt'. This involved a couple from Leeds called Mr and Mrs H who had applied to Leeds City Council to be assessed as prospective adopters. They were told that because Mr H's weight was 24.5st (156kg) he was morbidly obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 42. He was informed by the council that his BMI must be below 40 before the couple could be considered as potential adoptive parents 'because there was a risk he could become ill or even die'. He was quoted as saying 'I just feel as though we were only judged on my weight and not all the other good things about us. We don't drink or smoke and we could give a child a happy and safe home'.

The council said that it had a duty to place children in a...

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