Struggle for Families: Greenlandic Parents Fight to Reclaim Their Children

Sat Nov 22 2025 10:36:38 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Amid a controversial parenting assessment system in Denmark, Greenlandic parents share their heart-wrenching experiences of having children taken from them. This article explores their desperate fight to regain custody and the cultural biases inherent in the evaluations.

Greenlandic families on the Danish mainland are grappling with the emotional turmoil caused by the removal of their children following assessments deemed culturally biased. The Danish government has recently banned the use of controversial competency tests on Greenlandic parents, but many are still battling to reclaim their children. Personal accounts of affected parents reveal a painful struggle against a system that critics argue is discriminatory and flawed.

When Keira's daughter was born last November, she was given two hours with her before the baby was taken into care.

Right when she came out, I started counting the minutes, Keira, 39, recalls. I kept looking at the clock to see how long we had. When the moment came for Zammi to be taken from her arms, Keira says she sobbed uncontrollably, whispering sorry to her baby. It felt like a part of my soul died. Now Keira is one of many Greenlandic families living on the Danish mainland who are fighting to get their children returned to them after they were removed by social services. In such cases, babies and children were taken away after parental competency tests - known in Denmark as FKUs - were used to help assess whether they were fit to be parents.

In May this year the Danish government banned the use of these tests on Greenlandic families after decades of criticism, although they continue to be used on other families in Denmark. The assessments, which usually take months to complete, are used in complex welfare cases where authorities believe children are at risk of neglect or harm.

Psychologists who defend the tests argue questions like these are intended to assess parents' general knowledge and their understanding of concepts they might encounter in society. However, critics argue they cannot meaningfully predict whether someone will make a good parent and are culturally biased.

Greenlanders are Danish citizens, enabling them to live and work on the mainland. Thousands live in Denmark, drawn by its employment opportunities, education, and healthcare, among other reasons. However, investigations reveal that Greenlandic parents in Denmark are 5.6 times more likely to have children taken into care than Danish parents.

Keira's painful experience echoes the stories of many, with a government review hoping to investigate the circumstances that led to the removal of Greenlandic children from their families. While a rare few, like Pilinguaq, manage to reunite with their children after years apart, the ongoing battle against systemic biases and emotional scars remains prevalent.