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Should Balloon Boy's Parents Lose Custody of Their Children?
Excelle Editor
October 22, 2009
Last week, the nation was taken on a wild goose chase for a missing child.
And wild it was. Kooky, even.
This week, everyone’s talking about whether or not the Heenes will be charged with staging an elaborate hoax, and whether or no they are fit to be parents.
In case you haven’t heard (and we’re pretty sure you have!), the Heene family reported that their six-year-old son Falcon was aboard a runaway helium balloon.
Falcon’s brother allegedly saw him climb into the basket of a helium balloon — a homemade, flying saucer-shaped aircraft. At the end of a costly, hours-long, 50-mile-plus saga, the saucer was grounded and the boy was nowhere to be seen. He was found later that afternoon hiding in his house.
It wasn’t long before questions arose over the authenticity of the incident and the intentions of the Heenes — an eccentric, storm chasing family who have made multiple appearances on the show Wife Swap. Was this a publicity stunt? This certainly wasn’t the first time father Richard Heene had tried to get famous.
And when Wolf Blitzer asked Falcon why he’d been hiding, the boy replied “we did it for the show.”
Oops! Kids say the darndest things!
The next day, the boy threw up twice while the family appeared on the Today Show. With all this storm chasing and hoax-plotting, are these two fit to be parents? If the allegations prove to be true, are the Heenes putting their children in harm’s way? Or would we be putting the children in harm’s way by taking them away from their family? What do you think?
