Protective custody for 218-lb. boy?

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 worst case would be Connor getting taken into care. He is well cared for," the boy's mother, Nicola McKeown, told ITV television.

A spokeswoman for health officials in Wallsend, 300 miles north of London, said the meeting was part of a process that could lead to Connor being taken into protective care. She declined to comment further.

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.

"Child abuse is not just about hitting your children or sexually abusing them; it is also about neglect," the official was quoted as saying.

Dr. Colin Waine, the director of the National Obesity Forum in Nottingham, England, called Connor's lifestyle "extremely dangerous," adding he is at risk of developing diabetes in his early 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.

Dr. Michael Markiewicz, a pediatrician, agreed.

"I'm not saying they can't care for him, but what they are doing is through the way they are treating him and feeding him, they are slowly killing him," he said.

When the boy was 2 ½ years old, he was too heavy for his mother to pick up, and at 5 he weighed more than 126 pounds, said The Journal, a northern regional newspaper. Now Connor, who is tall for his age at 5 feet tall, wears adult clothes and size eight shoes, the newspaper said.

Connor's mother said he steals and hides food, frustrating her efforts to help him. He eats double or triple what a normal 8-year-old would eat, 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 and is targeted by bullies.