‘The nurse told me I couldn’t keep my baby’: how a controversial Danish ‘parenting test’ separated a Greenlandic woman from her children

Must be a fondness of non sequiturs

For some reason I think I was referring to Australia. Not sure why

Greenland.

British penal colony.

Ok.

Jokes really do go over your heads down under don't they.

Also have you seen the tragedy that is the American school system? I am lucky I can read and write, forget knowing the history of a British penal colony.

To be fair, indigenous in this sort of context usually refers to a colonial state where the ruling group is different from the one there before a colonial empire got there. I don't usually see it used for populations that haven't been subject to conquest and occupation like that within the last millenia or so, even if it could technically fit, it'd be a bit redundant.

Though if the history of, say, Ireland is any indication, historically when white Europeans end up in that kind of position they haven't faired much better.

I did say strides but having issues. At least they have indigenous representation. US def doesnt

New Zealand recently just punished three politicians harshly for doing the Haka. They were protesting a proposed law to strip special constitutional privileges for the Maori stemming from the original colonial treaties. Those old British colonizers were apparently too respectful to the rights of the indigenous people for modern conservatives.

We usually don't have these issues because we experimented away from home.

Haiti. The indigenous people were wiped out through disease and slavery.

Also good point. I guess New Zealand has been making strides by they are still having issues.

Just funny to note because a lot of Americans view Europe as like this Ultra free place that has none of the issues the US has.

White European indigenous people.

What a strange question.

Fair counterpoint. I should have but did not

You do realize the people doing that in the US all came from Europe

Show me one place where indigenous people aren't treated like crap by the government

So you don't really pay attention to the rest of world history, huh.

Why not both (and many other countries too)?

We still do.

We had this in Australia too :(

Why are you being downvoted? If that shit is going down in Denmark, then it's not as perfect as people claim to be.

And this is coming from someone who likes Denmark.

Yeah it's far from perfect, but it's still better than most countries in most ways.

Child protection however is an extremely difficult area, because getting it wrong is horrible, despite they think they are helping the child. In other situations, there really is a need to protect the child.

I don’t know if this woman has gotten her children back

Probably not, the standard mode for social workers/services I've seen here in Denmark, is to double down, no matter how wrong their original decision was. It was their decision, and they are right by law, and it basically can't be questioned.

Exactly what popped into my head too. They also had questions that were ambiguous. "What's the big staircase in Rome?" doesn't really have a single correct answer much like many of the literacy tests in the Jim Crow south.

Because they are the same thing

It’s worth copying that whole section, rather than just the first sentence. This shit is horrific and blatantly racist

The tests cover attachment, personality traits, cognitive abilities and psychopathology, and take about 15-20 hours. It is almost impossible to pass them, says Nellemann; even he and his colleagues have failed to do so. Questions can include “What is glass made of?” and “What is the name of the big staircase in Rome?” Nellemann argues that the tests are culturally specific and a poor way to measure innate intelligence. “There is a lot of stigmatisation of people from Greenland,” he says. “We don’t know why we should use these tests for parenting.”

When Keira was given the test, for Zammi, she says she was told it was to see if she was ‘civilised enough’

>He even goes so far as to compare the tests to a tool of fascism. “You take only one kind of people as the ‘real’ ones. We only choose the white, or ‘real’, Danish people.”

I haven't read the article yet (sneaking Lemmy time at work), but this reminds of the literacy tests they used to use for voting in the US for black folks

One of the things I saw, was that if a baby doesn’t seek eye contact with a stranger holding it, it should be a sign that the mother doesn’t give the baby enough attention!

That's so messed up. Newborns are born with poor vision. "At birth, an infant is very sensitive to bright light. You may notice how small their pupils look, limiting how much light enters their eyes. A newborn baby can see something next to them with their peripheral (side) vision, but their central vision is still developing."

It takes time for their vision to develop. From that same source, "At about 1 month, your baby may focus briefly on you, but may still prefer brightly colored objects up to 3 feet away. Infants are able to see across a room even at birth, but they are mostly interested in objects very close to them."

France makes great use of quacks. Gordon Ramsey has some instructional videos.

>simply being Greenlandic will be enough to get the attention of social workers.

>The tests cover attachment, personality traits, cognitive abilities and psychopathology, and take about 15-20 hours. It is almost impossible to pass them, says Nellemann; even he and his colleagues have failed to do so.

I remember reading about this late last year, and I remember not trusting that social worker or the process one bit.

I once watched a documentary about this kind of "social service" and some of their methods are 100% unscientific, and don't take personality traits or just moods into account, like whether a person is extro- or introvert. I even posted about it on feddit.dk, but was met with much skepticism. One of the things I saw, was that if a baby doesn't seek eye contact with a stranger holding it, it should be a sign that the mother doesn't give the baby enough attention! Yes really it's that stupid! When obviously it's more likely the baby doesn't appreciate a stranger.

I can't put into words how much I despise that kind of quackery! Because that's what it is.

But quackery is unfortunately standard procedure in social services. And social services even trump real doctors, meaning quackery trumps real doctors by law!!

Quackery is illegal in Denmark, except in social services where it's an everyday phenomenon.

After recoiling in horror and delving in, it does appear that they have stopped using this test as of January this year (search: Denmark FKU). I don't know if this woman has gotten her children back but its clear a lot of damage has been done already. Hardline institutional racism always make me wonder what is so upsetting as to justify such blind and heinous cruelties. It doesn't seem natural, to predate on your own species.

As a Canadian, all I can say is "hey wait a minute, I've seen this one before!"

I'm shocked this sorta shit still happens in 2025, how did this come into being? Thus might be a rabbit hole I go down, who founded this program, who vetted it, etc

Colonialist shit. They did the exact same thing to Inuit and First Nations women and babies here in Canada.

Absolutely disgusting... Completely biased and clearly racist test. Fucking fascists everywhere...

And here I thought the US was the one that treated our indigenous citizens like crap

What's going on in Denmark?

https://sundayguardianlive.com/culture/single-mother-lost-children-denmark

https://sundayguardianlive.com/lifestyle/12753-tragic-tale-loss-world-s-happiest-country