Denmark: Baby Removed From 18-Year-Old Mother After Birth

Outrage has been sparked in Denmark after a newborn was removed from its 18-year-old mother, Ivana Nikoline Brønlund, immediately after birth. The municipal welfare service removed the baby because the mother "failed" a parental competency test.

Ivana Nikoline Brønlund, born in Nuuk, Greenland, gave birth to her daughter, Avijaja-Luna, on August 11 in a hospital near Copenhagen. One hour after birth, the baby was given to a foster family. Since then, Ivana Nikoline has seen her daughter only once.

The FKU parental competency tests have been criticized in the past as inappropriate for evaluating parents from the Inuit community. Eventually, their application to members of that community was banned in May.

Ivana Nikoline claims that the municipality removed her child due to trauma from sexual abuse she suffered. She also alleges that she was deemed "not Greenlandic enough" to be exempt from the test.

The Danish Minister for Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, has demanded answers from the municipality, stressing that standardized tests should not be used in cases of children from families with a Greenlandic background.

Source: Ethnos