On August 11, 2025, Ivana Nikoline Brønlund, an 18-year-old mother of Inuit origin, gave birth to her little girl, Aviaja-Luuna, in a Hvidovre hospital, near Copenhagen. An hour after childbirth, however, the newborn was subtracted from the mother and entrusted to an adoptive family.
The official motivation? A “parental competence” test (FKU) that would have evaluated insufficient Ivana’s skills as a mother. According to local authorities, the traumas suffered in the past by the girl, including childhood abuses by the stepfather, would have compromised her ability to take care of her daughter.
But do you want to know the most incredible thing? According to the Danish law, these tests cannot be applied to people of Greenish origin (as is precisely Ivana). Yet, the Municipality of Høje-Tatrup has decided to subject it equally to the FKU, justifying the decision precisely with the childish traumas suffered by the young mother, thus transforming what should have been a support into an unjust punishment: in practice, the victim was further punished for what he had already suffered.
The photo circulating with mother and daughter embraced is heartbreaking and beyond any shortcomings of Ivana – all to be ascertained, among other things – how can you really justify the tear of a newborn from her mother’s arms immediately after childbirth? Of human in situations like these there is very little.
What the test of parental competence consists
The parental competence test, known in Danish as Forældrekompertencecersøgelse (FKU), is a psychometric exam used by social services to evaluate the ability of a parent to take care of a child. In practice, it consists of interviews, questionnaires and observations that analyze psychological, behavioral and relational aspects of the person, such as the management of emotions, the ability to solve problems, the response to the needs of the child and the possible influence of past traumas.
Critical for years by activists and associations for human rights, the test has been considered discriminatory and culturally inadequate for Greenish and Inuit families. In fact, it does not take into account the cultural specificities, traditional educational practices or the linguistic barriers of this people: for example, many people of Greenland origin speak the Danish only in part, and the test takes place exclusively in this language.
Not surprisingly, according to a report of 2022, following this test 5.6% of Greenish children in Denmark was removed from families, compared to 1% of Danish children. This highlights a significant disparity in the reliance practices between the two communities.
The Danish government has therefore decided to prohibit its use for families of Greenland origin starting from May 2025. Despite this, the Municipality of Høje-Tatrup went on to justify the decision to subject Ivana to the test saying that “it was not Greenland” for the application of the new law, even if Ivana was born in Greenland by Greenlandic parents.
The Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, underlined the illegality of the procedure in this case, criticizing the Municipality of Høje-Tatrup:
Standardized tests should not be used in cases of assignment involving families of Greenland origin. The law is clear.
The administration of Høje-Tatrup seems to have now admitted to having made some mistakes and that it will ensure that the rights of Ivana Brønlund are respected.
The pain of a young mother who does not surrender
After the birth of the girl, in Ivana it is allowed to see the little girl, under supervision, only once every two weeks for two hours. Mom told the Guardian The pain felt during the labor and immediately after, in fact he had already been communicated that his daughter could not have grown:
I didn’t want to get into labor because I knew what would happen later. I kept my little girl near me when she was in my belly, it was the best I could do to stay close to her. It was a very hard and horrible period.
Despite this heartbreaking situation, Ivana is struggling in every way to get her daughter back.
And it is not alone: several associations and activists have mobilized in his support, descending to the square and announcing new events for September, with further protests scheduled in Nuuk, Copenhagen, Reykjavík and Belfast.
Ivana’s appeal will be discussed in court on September 16 and this will be a concrete possibility of gathering with her little girl and regaining the role of mother who belongs to her.
Ivana’s is not the first case
The story of Ivana is unfortunately not isolated. Already in November last year, another Greenland mother, Keira Alexandra Kronvold, had been deprived of the newborn daughter, the Danish authorities had taken her little Zami with his strength only two hours after childbirth.
The case had aroused international protests and had been widely followed by the media, becoming a symbol of the difficulties and discrimination that the Greenland minority can encounter in the Danish system of protection of minors.
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Sources: Ivana Nikoline Brønlund Facebook / The Guardian
