Intelligence and emotional intelligence are heritable characteristics. Nurturing is heritable.

They likely come from a combination of both genetics and environment.

I would imagine that a child that survives a neglectful upbringing would have a degree of toughness that a child brought up in an environment without that stress wouldn't. Each environment favours its own factors for success.

If that person who survived that upbringing would be nice to their own children as a result of knowing how bad a neglectful parent is, they will not be stopped from breeding, therefore their genes will continue.

I simply don't think you can put a set of behaviours down to a specific set of genes and act like they're being bread out. People are more complex than that and the types of people I wouldn't want breeding would still exist.

Let me clarify: much as been justified by the phrase 'common sense' that has been anything but.

I get you now, and you are right, if "common sense" was literally my only argument it would be a weak one, but there is a tangible benefit to what I'm arguing as well.

I disagree with that on the ground that it ignores the broader long term consequences in favour of short term human value driven gains.

What do you believe is lost by getting rid of abusive parents?

I believe a superior method of dealing with the situation is to alter our environment. The human species success is due in no small degree to our ability to change where we live to be more suitable to us.

Exactly what changes are you proposing? Because I mean human society right now is already full of people against these things, but that doesn't stop a minority of sociopaths from becoming alcoholics and beating their kids all day, or people like the mother in the OP making their kids fat for media hype.