Depends on the situation. The basic gist of it seems to be that saying things like "It's child abuse" or "The parents should be prosecuted" is not fat sympathy. But things like "Oh this poor child is a victim of shitty parents" would be, because of the "this poor child" part.  While there was some discussion about how young is too young in the main discussion thread the general agreement seemed to be "use downvoats to voice your opinion and move on".  Links:  SportyStrawberry's response on fat sympathy SportyStrawberry's response on how young is too young and downvoats