The Danish Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, will send a letter to Danish municipalities urging them to consider stopping the use of parent tests. This is after a meeting with the Minister of Children Youth, Education, Culture, Sport and Church, Aqqaluaq B. Egede.
The Danish Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, is now responding in the case of Danish municipalities' use of parent tests on Greenlandic parents in placement cases.
This comes after the minister held a meeting on the matter with a member of the government of Greenland Aqqaluaq B. Egede on Friday last week.
According to Aqqaluaq B. Egede, the Minister of Social Affairs promised that she would send a letter to the Danish municipalities to stop using the tests.
But it is not quite that simple. If you look at the legislation, it is the local councils in the Danish municipalities that determine the case processing. Thus, the Minister of Social Affairs does not have the authority to decide whether the municipalities should use the disputed tests.
As Minister of Social Affairs and Housing, I would however urge that the municipalities in cases involving families with a Greenlandic background specifically consider stopping the use of the criticized tests.
Sophie Hæstorp Andersen in a written response to KNR
Today, five times as many children from Greenlandic families in Denmark are placed outside the home compared to children from Danish families. This is shown in a report from 2022 by VIVE (The National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare in Denmark).
In 2023, a report from the knowledge center VIVE pointed out that caseworkers in Danish municipalities lack knowledge of Greenlandic culture and language, and that this can lead to misunderstandings and prejudices.
At the same time, there has also been criticism of the use of the so-called parent competence tests (FKU) in placement cases of Greenlandic children. This is because the tests are adapted to Western culture and norms.
In March 2023, the Danish government allocated 7.8 million kroner over three years for new parent tests and guidance in cases of possible placement of children from Greenlandic families in Denmark.
This happened after negotiations in which the Greenlandic parliamentarians, Aaja Chemnitz and Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, demanded money for new tests.
Originally, the new tests were supposed to be ready by the end of 2023.
The Danish government has instead initiated a preliminary study that will form the basis for the work of developing new tests. The preliminary study must be completed by the end of 2024.
In June, the Danish Institute for Human Rights called on five Danish municipalities to stop using FKU tests in placement cases of Greenlandic children.
The municipality of Copenhagen and the municipality of Esbjerg have chosen to follow the call. However, several Danish municipalities continue to use the tests in placement cases.
Most recently, a case in November this year in Thisted Municipality has caused people to demonstrate in both Nuuk and Copenhagen. The case concerns a woman from Greenland who had her child forcibly removed after birth.
The Minister of Social Affairs confirms that she had a “good and constructive meeting” with Aqqaluaq B. Egede, and that the case makes a great impression on her.
- Therefore, I will now write to all the country's mayors and recommend that the municipalities, in each specific case, consider how they can relevantly uncover parental competences, so that they inform cases in a way that takes into account the family's overall situation, including their Greenlandic linguistic and cultural background.
- It is absolutely crucial that tests are not used that do not take this into account, and the use of tests in such cases should, in my opinion, stop, writes Sophie Hæstorp Andersen.
The controversial parenting tests have come back on the agenda after more than 200 people took to the streets in Nuuk and Copenhagen earlier this month and demonstrated against Danish municipalities' use of the tests.
In June, the Danish Institute for Human Rights sent a letter to five of the Danish municipalities where the most Greenlanders live, calling on them to stop using the tests on Greenlandic parents. Copenhagen and Esbjerg have chosen to follow the call.
But the question now is whether the remaining 96 municipalities in Denmark will do the same.
You can expect that the municipalities will listen to what a minister recommends that they do. But legally the minister cannot oblige them as the rules are now.
Tine Birkelund Thomsen, legal project manager for Equal Treatment at the Danish Institute for Human Rights
According to Tine Birkelund Thomsen, it is good that the Danish Minister of Social Affairs is responding to the matter. But it is far from enough, she emphasizes.
- From the perspective of the Greenlandic citizens, it is clearly not satisfactory, because there is no guarantee that the tests will be stopped.
- In the end, one can choose to say that one will regulate by law how the tests should be used specifically, she says.
The association MAPI, which works to promote the rights of Greenlandic parents and children in placement cases, has announced that they are holding a demonstration against the use of parent tests. The demonstration took place yesterday, on November 20, at Christiansborg Palace Square at 3 p.m. Danish time.
At the same time, there was also a demonstration in Nuuk at 12 p.m. local time. The two demonstrations therefore took place at the same time.
Based on: KNR.gl
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