Published: October 22, 2009 11:14 pm      

KENNETH HART: Up, up and foul play 102509

I’m beginning to think that the mental-health field is going to have a whole new subspecialty in the not-too-distant future.

It will be populated by psychologists and psychiatrists who do nothing but treat the emotional trauma inflicted on children by parents seeking fame and fortune via “reality” television.

Hey, the eight Gosselin kids alone would be enough to provide a decent foundation for some shrink’s practice, one would think.

Add the Heene kids to the mix and all of a sudden, the idea doesn’t sound far-fetched at all.

Not as far-fetched, at least, as the bill of goods the family tried to palm off on the American public a few days ago.

The Heenes, as you are no doubt aware by this point, are the Colorado family behind the infamous “balloon boy” saga in which 6-year-old Falcon Heene was believed to be trapped in a giant homemade helium balloon that had become untethered and flew to altitudes of up to 7,000 feet.

TV news cameras followed the mysterious, UFO-shaped object as it sailed more than 50 miles over three counties, eventually landing about 12 miles northeast of Denver International Airport.

When the youngster wasn’t found in the balloon, emergency workers feared he’d fallen out. A search was conducted, but later that day, it was learned the kid had been hiding in his family’s garage the entire time.

Suspicion that the entire incident was a put-up job engineered by Falcon’s dad, Richard Heene, began to grow when, during an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” the boy said to his father: “You guys said that, um, we did this for the show.”

The following day on the morning network shows, Falcon vomited when asked about his comment, and again when his father was questioned about it.

In the minds of many, that no doubt sealed the deal right there.

A couple of days later, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden announced that authorities had determined the entire incident had been a hoax, apparently concocted by Richard Heene and his wife, Mayumi, so they could better market themselves for a reality TV show.

The whole thing would be funny if it weren’t so utterly monstrous.

Think about what an awful choice this kid was facing — let his parents down or go before the TV cameras and tell a story he knew to be a massive lie.

Faced with such pressure, Falcon reacted in a way most normal 6-year-olds would — he tossed his cookies.

And the entire country was there to watch. Lovely.

Think, too, about the emotions of all those who were involved in the search for Falcon, and how they must’ve felt when they found out they’d been had.

As of this writing, charges against the Heene parents — storm chasers and UFO hunters who’d previously been featured on ABC’s “Wife Swap” and reportedly had a development deal for a TV show in the works — had not been announced.

One would certainly hope they’ll be prosecuted for child abuse, among other crimes.

And, that part of their sentence will be that they are forever banned from appearing on TV for any reason.