The Children’s Council wants cases about Greenlandic children reopened

Cases where Greenlandic children have been placed should be reopened if psychological tests that are not adapted to the parents have been used in the case.

That’s what Bente Boserup, head of the council for Ritzau, says.

– The municipalities should, if they have not already done so, resume the cases. They must do this in order to review whether the tests have had an impact on the outcome of the decision on placement, she says.

– A placement on the wrong basis violates the child’s right to family life. It is serious. If there is any doubt, it must benefit the child.

The Children’s Council is a state council which is politically and financially independent and consists of a chairman and eight members who are appointed by the Minister of Social Affairs and the Elderly.

In both decisions about Danish and Greenlandic children, psychological tests of the parents’ competences are included.

The tests have been criticized for not being adapted to Greenlandic culture and language. This, the critics believe, can result in erroneous placements.

The criticism has led the Danish government and the Greenlandic government, Naalakkersuisut, to enter into an agreement, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing wrote in a press release on Sunday.

– The government takes very seriously the criticism that has been raised of these tests in cases of families with a Greenlandic background. In light of the doubts that have been raised, the government and Naalakkersuisut have found a joint solution to this, the press release reads.

The details of the agreement will be published later this week, the ministry informs Ritzau.

In the summer of 2024, the Institute for Human Rights called on the country’s five largest municipalities to scrap the test.

This led to both Copenhagen Municipality and Esbjerg Municipality dropping the use of the test.

In November 2024, Social Affairs and Housing Minister Sophie Hæstorp Andersen (S) told Ritzau that the municipalities should consider stopping using the tests.

Here it was also said that the ministry had initiated a preliminary study which was to uncover the possibilities of translating and culturally adapting psychological tests or similar tests into Greenlandic.

It is not clear whether it is the investigation that has resulted in the upcoming bill.

/ritzau/