Newborn baby confiscated when mother fails competency test

[MumoftwoNC]

This is in Denmark. I didn't know this was a thing, I'd never heard of this... I'm so upset by it. Does anyone know any more about this? Surely this wouldn't happen in the UK? I thought mums would be given support if they weren't "competent" rather than just have their baby taken into care.

Apologies for the Guardian link which just goes on about the mother's ethnic minority, whereas I think this would be awful regardless of the race of the mum.

Protests as newborn removed from Greenlandic mother after ‘parenting competence’ tests https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/23/protests-as-newborn-removed-from-greenlandic-mother-after-parenting-competence-tests?CMP=share_btn_url

I found another article from January incorrectly saying the tests had been banned.

"According to a 2022 report published by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, 5.6% of children with a Greenlandic background living in Denmark had at the time been placed into care, compared to 1% of those with a Danish background."

Even 1% seems quite high for children who are taken into care??

https://www.euronews.com/2025/01/21/denmark-abandons-controversial-parenting-competency-tests-used-on-greenlanders

@LuckyAnt how on earth can you be confident enough to assert that the baby must be returned to her mother?!

you have no idea what risks the mother may pose to the baby.

@MumoftwoNCHmmmm it’s difficult to say. If this is an inherently racist test then yes it does need addressing, or if there are wider cultural implications that mean there’s an unsafe practice happening amongst Greenlandic parents then that perhaps needs support as well.

However, it can definitely can be decided to remove a baby before birth. Pre birth assessments are done in the U.K. if there are significant concerns during pregnancy or if the parent has prior safeguarding concerns that warrant looking into, for example previous children removed. It’s sad, but as others have said, these assessments aren’t done for a joke. Babies are best with their parents but only if safe and cared for.
L

Who gets to set the criteria for this license?

Yeah.No.

Very dopey argument. If social services thought like you, even more children would be abused than - sadly - already are.

Seriously? Some women will always put a partner first, even violent paedophiles. I adopted two children from that very situation. We saw papers on three sets of children and all three had violent fathers or step

Also wanted to mention Constance Martin. She was to have her baby removed at birth so she and her partner went on the run - and the baby was found dead. So the authorities were right.

A woman I know has had all 5 of her babies removed. She's likeable and very much wants children. She's an addict, always with some domineering man, off her face 90% of the time.

Her first two children were removed from her as toddlers, the rest shortly after birth. She still feels she should get a chance to prove herself, but the sad reality is she's already proved where her priorities are.

I'm a massive supporter of better funding for mum and baby foster placements.

But if a woman is refusing to leave an abusive man, she's neglecting her children and putting them in danger. It know it's often v hard to leave. But if a woman can leave and isn't, she's choosing to put her dependent children in danger.

Whilst this case obviously wasn't in the UK, the impact of frontline service funding cuts, closure of Surestart centres etc have had a measurable effect on how much support a woman can access now to leave such environments. It's heartbreaking.

And not to get too political but the decimation of local authority budgets happened under the Tories... Stripping billions of pounds of funding to some of the most disadvantaged areas whilst increasing spending in many Tory Shire councils.

This. It’s frankly ignorant to say “the article goes on and on about the woman’s ethnicity but it would be awful if it happened to anyone regardless of race” because it IS disproportionately happening to Greenlandic women who’ve been brutalised by the Danish for decades. First by colonisation then by forced contraception and sterilisation in the 70s (I think, not sure on actual dates). Greenlandic children were sent to residential schools in Denmark much like Native American and First Nations people were in the US and Canada. The ethics of the parenting test in Denmark and its effect on Danish mothers is an entirely different discussion.

Greenlandic people are less expressive facially. Of course, because this is cultural it will be absorbed by the baby growing up in the way that all nuances in facial expression are. Eg we instinctively know what raising our eyebrows means but it means something different in Greece. I think this was almost interpreted as neglect/inability to interact correctly with babies. But it would be like Italian authorities removing children from Danish/English parents living there because they aren't capable of raising children with the correct level of expressiveness. But worse because you could argue English people shouldn't move to Italy if they can't mirror Italians correctly. Greenlandic people just are there. Plus actually removing the baby causes trauma/attachment issues in itself (which then leads to a new generation of children with issues etc.

Sorry I should say less expressive facially on average. But it's a cultural thing.