On the night of November 8, Keira Alexandra Kronvold, a 38-year-old woman of Greenlandic descent, gave birth to a healthy daughter at Thisted Hospital, Denmark. But what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life turned into a nightmare. Two hours after giving birth, she had to hand over her newborn to a case manager at Thisted Municipality. Taken by force, he was entrusted to a Danish foster family.
For what? Because the mother was not judged “sufficiently civilized” by the Danish Parenting Assessment Test (FKU). Psychometric tests are widely used in Denmark as part of child protection investigations of new parents, but have long been criticized by human rights bodies as being culturally inappropriate for people of Greenlandic origin and minorities . This month, the affair sparked large-scale protests in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the autonomous territory’s capital. The Guardian tells us more.
According to Tina Naamansen, president of Sila 360, which works on monitoring Inuit legal rights, this is “one case among many others”. Children of Greenlandic parents living in Denmark – which once governed Greenland as a colony and continues to control its foreign and security policy – are much more likely to be placed in care than those of Danish parents. According to a 2022 report, 5.6% of children of Greenlandic origin living in Denmark are placed in care, compared to 1% of those of Danish origin.
Louise Holck, director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, urges municipalities to immediately stop using the tests on Greenlandic parents until the questions can be adapted to their language and their culture. In a 2022 report, the institute explains that Greenlandic parents, faced with this unsuitable test, “are likely to perform poorly, so that it is concluded, for example, that they have reduced cognitive abilities, without there being any real evidence of this.” Or, “Such errors of judgment can have serious consequences for children and parents.”
Dramatic consequences
This is the case for Keira Alexandra Kronvold. The psychological assessments were carried out by a Danish-speaking psychologist. However, the mother, whose mother tongue is Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic), does not speak Danish fluently. In a passage from his file, we can read that “her Greenlandic origin would make it difficult for her to prepare the child for the expectations and social codes necessary in Danish society.” She can now only spend one hour a week with her baby, during which she is closely monitored by a social worker.
Last week, the Greenlandic Minister of Children, Aqqaluaq B. Egede, had an emergency meeting with the Danish Minister of Social Affairs and Housing, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen. After the meeting, Aqqaluaq B. Egede said she had promised to order municipalities to stop using the test. But the minister’s subsequent statement, published on Wednesday November 20, did not result in an outright ban: “I would like to encourage municipalities in cases involving families of Greenlandic origin to concretely consider stopping the use of the criticized tests.”
Lars Sloth, Director of Child and Family Administration at Thisted Municipality, reacted: “The municipality always works in the best interests of the child and we closely follow the laws and guidelines in force.” Adding that in the absence of alternative tools, they will continue to use FKU testing.
Source: www.slate.fr
