The law has long reflected the social norms of society. As people have become more conscious about healthy lifestyles, nutrition and weight those same choices and values have worked their way into court. The newest issue in family law is the growing influence that weight has on child custody decisions. The concern with weight ranges from the health of the child to the ability of the parent to take care of the child because of weight issues. The concern about weight and child custody is growing across the country and the concern may be gaining in Colorado as well.

In many child custody cases where weight is an issue, mothers and fathers talk about the state of their child's weight and nutrition in an effort to persuade the judge that the other parent does a less than desired job taking care of the child's health.

According to family-law practitioners and legal experts weight has been used in other ways. The weight of a parent has been used to help demonstrate that the parent is too obese to properly take care of the child at issue. Parents may also claim that the state of their child's weight is the result of the other parent's choice to provide fast-food, potato chips and soft drinks as a disproportionate part of the child's daily meals.

One family law practitioner says he has seen cases where, "one parent is accusing the other of putting a child at risk of developing diabetes or heart disease -- or saying that the child is miserable because he's getting made fun of at school."

In one case, child custody was switched when the child's diet primarily consisted of fast-food meals morning, day and night. It was also found that the child was not receiving proper medical care and was not current on vaccinations.

In years past, smoking was an issue in child custody cases. As society becomes more aware of the health dangers of being overweight, weight may be a more common issue in child custody cases.

Source: foxnews.com, "Growing role of obesity in child custody battles," Oct. 31, 2011