A mother was sent to jail and charged with neglect becauseher son is obese. Jerri Gray says thather son Alexander Draper ballooned to a whopping 555 pounds because she wasaway at work trying to provide for her family.
“This is not a caseof a mother force-feeding a child,” said Gray’s lawyer, Grant Varner. “If shehad been holding him down and force-feeding him, sure, I can understand. Butshe doesn’t have the means to do it. She doesn’t have the money to buy the foodto do it.”
Police are saying that the child’s mother should haveintervened when she saw that his weight was getting out of control. She was released this week on $50,000bond. The boy is in custody of theDepartment of Social Services, who argues that “health care professionals believea child is at risk of harm.”
On The Early Show, Gray and her attorney explained thesituation.
“Well, a lot of timesit had to do with lifestyle. A lot of times I had to work full-time secondshift, or full-time, third shift — and I wasn’t home a lot,” she said.
Gray said that she tried to watch what her son was eating,but that it was difficult to keep up because she worked so much.
“When I had a secondshift job, I would’ve rather been home, so that I could’ve spent more timefocusing on preparing more low-fat type meals.”
Gray says that whatever program the state has for her sonshould include the both of them. Gray’sattorney believes that charging his client could open the door for otherparents of obese children to be charged. Whether the state has a case or not isunclear, but what is clear is that someone needs to help this family.
