Fallout from State Seizure of Overweight Child
Aug. 29 -- As public comment whirled around a state’s removal of an overweight child from her parents’ care, the head of the agency in New Mexico responsible for the decision defended their action.
Anamarie Martinez-Regino weighs 120 pounds and is 3½ feet tall — three times heavier and 50 percent taller than an average 3-year-old, accordingto the girl’s physician, Monika Mahal. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department took Anamarie last week, after Mahal made the recommendation that she be removed from her parents’ custody.
Deborah Hartz, head of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, said Monday critics commenting on the case don’t have all the facts, but she can’t release the facts because of confidentiality rules governing New Mexico family law cases.
Hartz seeks to reassure families that their children won’t be removed from their homes for being too fat or too thin. She says the most important thing is whether a child is safe in the home.
“Every case where children are not safe is a very special case, a very sad case. The state of New Mexico just wants to be sure that we take every step we can to make sure that every child in New Mexico is safe,” Hartz told Good Morning America today. “I can’t talk about this case specifically, but that is our entire goal.”
Miguel Regino and Adela Martinez, Anamarie’s parents, say they’ve done everything they can to help Anamarie and say the state has unfairly labeled them unfit to care for her.
In the Child’s Best Interest?
The state Children, Youth and Families Department took Anamarie after a doctor said the child’s condition was life-threatening.
“I saw a child being pulled away from the only parents she’s known. The only remembrance she has is them pulling her away and us standing there crying because we felt so useless. We couldn’t do anything, we couldn’t stop them,” Adela Martinez told Good Morning America Monday.
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