Greenlandic mother recovers baby removed from Denmark

This is important news for Ivana Nikoline Brønlund's family, but also a milestone in the tense relations between Denmark and its former colony, Greenland. More than a month after becoming a mother and seeing her daughter taken from her in a Danish hospital after failing a series of "parenting" tests that had already been banned in the country, the Greenlander will be reclaiming the baby with whom she only spent the first hour of her life.

This Monday, a committee evaluating appeals in Denmark decided to reverse the decision made by local authorities in the small town of Hvidovre, near Copenhagen, where Ivana Brønlund lives. As reported by the New York Times, which interviewed her, the 18-year-old Greenlander has been fighting "hard" to regain custody of her daughter, who was born on August 11th. An hour after her birth, she was taken from her mother by local authorities and given up for adoption.

"I'm speechless... my heart is whole again," the young woman wrote in an Instagram post, where she shared some photos with her newborn daughter. "How I'm so excited to welcome my beloved daughter Aviaja-Luuna into my arms."

To The New York Times, the young woman had already described the time she spent with her daughter after giving birth as the "best hour" of her life—"I held her and felt her next to me," she said. "I wish I had had the opportunity to prove that I can be a mother."

As Observador reported here, the "parental competence" tests that Ivana Brønlund failed are psychological tests intended to assess parenting conditions. They are administered to families that raise prior concerns among authorities but were banned among the population with Inuit roots because they were not "suitable." Furthermore, a study revealed that 5.6% of children of Greenlandic origin were taken from their parents and handed over to the state—a percentage five times higher than that of Danish parents who were taken from them.

The evaluation included meetings with psychologists and social workers, psychological evaluations, and IQ tests. Although this testing model was discontinued in these cases in May, the young woman underwent this evaluation anyway and, according to her account, was told she would be without her baby three weeks before the birth. Authorities concluded that she would not be able to "ensure the child's well-being and development" and that she would require "significant psychiatric and social support."

According to the family, this was nothing more than an "unfair" conclusion due to the trauma Ivana suffered at the hands of her adoptive father, who is serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing his daughter—an explanation that outraged activists who have been following the case, who questioned the fact that Ivana was now being punished for the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Local authorities also claimed that the 18-year-old, who was born in Greenland and adopted by a Danish family, was not "Greenlandic enough" to qualify for the end of the testing.

The situation was reported internationally, sparked protests and demonstrations in several cities, and led Denmark's Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, to ask the regional body responsible for the case for explanations, noting that these tests should not be applied to cases involving families with Inuit roots.

Greenland, a former Danish colony, became a territory of the country in 1953. Years later, in 1979, it gained some autonomy, and today there are at least 15,000 Greenlanders living in Denmark.

Despite the relative autonomy that was gained, the 50s, 60s and 70s of the last century in Greenland were marked not only by the forced removal of Inuit children from their families, in order to educate them according to Danish customs and even forcing them to forget their language, but also by the insertion, without consent, of intrauterine devices in women and girls (many under 12 years of age).

Here too, there appears to be a turning point in relations between the two countries: this Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that the country is planning to create a "reconciliation fund" that will serve as historical reparations to women who were inserted into contraceptive devices against their will, a form of "systematic discrimination" against Greenlanders.

The president, who released a statement cited by The Guardian, confirmed that a new fund is under discussion to accompany the formal apology made to Greenland in August, a historic step for relations between the two countries. The discrimination suffered by Greenlanders has received increased attention in recent years, with 4,500 women and children believed to have been affected by the intrauterine device scandal—a practice that former Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B Egede once described as "genocidal."