Forced adoptions in the name of children’s rights
09 February 2024
Contrary to the trend of decline in international adoptions, the number of domestic adoptions has seen a steep increase in Denmark. Often, these adoptions come from families who are socially disadvantaged and have been forced to give their child up for adoption by the authorities. In 2022, with 86% of the cases, the mother’s cognitive issues, including autism, ADHD, and low IQ, were stated as the reason for removal.
According to statistics from the Danish Appeals Authority, obtained by the Danish media Zetland, recommendations for forced adoptions have risen from just one child in 2016 to at least 51 in 2023 – approximately one child a week. Prior to 2016, the authorities had to prove that the parents would never be able to take good care of the child. This changed in 2015 when a change of law meant that the authorities only needed to make it “probable” that the biological parents were unfit.
From January 2024, this has been taken even further with the enforcement of “Barnets Lov” (The Law of the Child), which gives the authorities the right to forcibly remove a child from their parents even before the child is born.
 | Erica Bernsten Strange While the new law is hailed by some for emphasising the child’s rights by removing the children at an early stage, the Danish Institute for Human Rights has expressed concern over the rising number, stating that severance from biological parents should be the last resort and that it has become too easy to remove a child without parental consent. Previously, the UK garnered much attention for its particularly high use of forced adoptions, but all countries in Europe permit adoption without parental consent. |
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