Obese Face Obstacles in Adoption Process

When Does Obesity Matter?

The majority of adoption cases rarely hinge on a single factor such as the adoptive parent's weight, but this could change if more judges and adoption agencies decide to consider obesity as a high risk to children entering the home.

"If someone is obese and therefore has diabetes and has had two heart attacks, well that's a big risk for that kid," Pertman said. "If the circumstance in the given case is that this kid isn't going to get a long-term loving home then you have to make a tough judgment."

There are already a few agencies that are known for being sticklers about weight, one expert told ABC News, but obesity as the only reason for rejecting adoptive parents is still uncommon.

"Anecdotally we know that some people think that some agencies won't place a child with obese parents," said Denise St. Clair, executive director of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy. "But it's still difficult for me to imagine the situation in which weight in and of itself would be an appropriate ruling out factor, because certainly there are coping mechanisms and there are individual personality traits and traits of parents that could certainly outweigh [an obesity issue]."

Some argue that it shouldn't matter how much a parent weighs, as long as they are willing and generous enough to provide a loving home for a child in need.

While this may be true to some extent, medical experts told ABC News that obesity — and the associated health risks — may be something that adoption agencies should consider more often when finding a permanent home for a child.

"Kids learn what they see and parents, whether they like it or not, are role models for our kids," said Keith Ayoob, an associate professor of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who argues that the environment in which a child is raised plays an important role in reducing their risk of obesity.

For Now, Obesity Isn't Key

Ayoob says that obesity alone is a health risk, regardless of whether diagnoses of diseases like diabetes and heart failure have been made.