The dark history of adoption

Potential adopters must have "good mental health, a healthy harmonious personality, a good marriage, a nuanced environment", wrote county social director and later chairman of the youth commission Lars Lundgaard in 1982 about the adoption of foreign children and continued:

“It’s not just superhumans who meet these conditions. But there must be profit and harmony. It is also there in the ordinary Danish family. "

Approximately 15 years before, the market for illegal adoptions had been brought under control by issuing permits to the persons and organizations that for years had provided Afro-German children to Danish couples in direct violation of the law.

What had not changed, however, from the illegal 'child import' of the 1950s to the regulated adoption industry of the 1980s, was the belief in "profit and harmony" in the "ordinary Danish family". A view that has now for 60 years legitimized adoptions from abroad to Denmark. Whether it's 'illegitimate' children of white German women and African American soldiers, children of single mothers in Korea or of AIDS-stricken Ethiopian parents, the argument for picking up these children, transporting them across borders and installing them in new homes in Denmark been that they would get better here. Because there is profit and harmony in the ordinary Danish family.

Child imports

In a new book, the three journalists Amalie Linde, Amalie Kønigsfeldt and Matilde Hørmand-Pallesen tell the story of how the organized adoptions from abroad to Denmark began. About the one-man army Tytte Botfeldt, who fully and firmly believed that any family in Denmark would be preferable to the German-born "mulatto children" (a word the authors themselves choose to use). About the Danish couples who wanted to avoid waiting lists and checks. About the "idealists" who wanted to show the cabinet Nazis south of the border that here in Denmark we could tolerate a little racial mixing. About the Danish politicians who for a decade chose to look through fingers with Tytte Botfeldt's dissemination center. And not least about the adoptees, who without being asked or informed suddenly found themselves with strangers,

The dead adopted children

The import of children - A dark chapter in the story of foreign adoption is based on interviews with 35 of the adoptees who came to Denmark from West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. The authors have also interviewed a number of the actors involved in Forgotten Children - now DanAdopt and AC Børnehjælp - and in Terre Des Hommes, who was deprived of his authorization to mediate adoption in 1999 following a case of Romanian children with false medical certificates.

Already 30 years before, both Forgotten Children and Terre Des Hommes had been linked to a much bigger scandal, which most people over the age of 50 will remember from the media: The child psychiatrist Ole Brems sat on the board of both the private adoption associations and the county nursing home association. was responsible for the approval of adopters. Together with his wife Lise, he adopted nine children from i.a. Germany. Three of them died, and in the book, the surviving adopted child Iben tells of an incomprehensibly vicious abuse. Ole Brems, who supplied his mentally ill wife with large quantities of e.g. morphine, even prepared the death certificates and burned the corpses. Due to lack of evidence, Ole Brems was only sentenced to two years in prison and deprived of his medical license for two years - and was thus able to resume his practice. Lise Brems was sentenced to four years in prison and permanently deprived of the right to work as a nurse. Until Lise Brems' death in prison, Tytte Botfeldt, who continued to mediate adoptions, had frequent letter contact with her.

Offenses - without references

The authors have also been in the archives and found minutes of meetings, reports from the parliamentary level, newspaper articles and private letter collections, etc. from the time. All this serves as evidence that both intermediaries, ministers and the public knew about the extensive illegal adoption traffic from abroad. Even after the issuance of authorizations, the organizations repeatedly broke the law without major consequences.

Unfortunately, there are no source references throughout the book, but just a comprehensive list of sources for each chapter. That choice was probably made out of consideration for readability. But if anything puts a stop to the reading flow, it is if one is constantly wondering where a concrete piece of information comes from. It also makes the book weaker both as an indictment against the actors of the time and as a starting point for further investigations.

Psychosocial focus

The life stories and interpretations of the same by the adoptees are central to the book and unfold alongside the description of Tytte Botfeldt's work and the formation of the adoption organizations we know today. The portrait part leaves something to be desired; you get the feeling of life course, but not really of the people behind it. In the same way, it is somewhat uncertain what kind of social context the Afrotic children came from and to in the 1950s and 1960s.

On the other hand, great attention is paid to the psychosocial consequences of and explanatory models for the course of adoptions, and the book thus enters a tradition in adoption research that downplays the focus on systemic connections in favor of a curious view of the individual.

Important pieces to the story

In the last chapters, the authors sample their own questionnaire surveys with all sorts of recent and older research without the distinction that parts of this research position themselves in direct mutual conflict. This is also where the authors pick up on the relevance of history for today's adoption debate - among other things. through counterfactual questions such as whether, after all, it was not better for the adoptees to come to Denmark than if they had stayed in Germany. A question that the authors themselves acknowledge can never be answered. Precisely for this reason, one should perhaps wonder that it is always asked.

That said, it is commendable that the authors have identified the first generations of adoptees from abroad adopted to give them the floor and have tried to document decades of abuse, abuse of office and lack of intervention against adopters and intermediaries' careless treatment of other people life. The import of children contributes important pieces to the understanding of the dubious life and life of Danish adoption history.

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Potentielle adoptanter skal have »et godt psykisk helbred, en sund harmonisk personlighed, et godt ægteskab, et nuanceret miljø«, skrev amtssocialdirektør og senere formand for ungdomskommissionen Lars Lundgaard i 1982 om adoption af udenlandske børn og fortsatte:

»Det er ikke kun supermennesker, der opfylder disse betingelser. Men der skal være overskud og harmoni. Det er der også i den almindelige danske familie.«

Omtrent 15 år forinden var markedet for illegale adoptioner forsøgt bragt under kontrol, ved at man udstedte tilladelser til de personer og organisationer, som i årevis havde skaffet afrotyske børn til danske par i direkte strid med lovgivningen.

Hvad der imidlertid ikke havde ændret sig fra 1950’ernes illegale ’børneimport’ til 1980’ernes regulerede adoptionsindustri, var troen på »overskud og harmoni« i den »almindelige danske familie«. En opfattelse, der nu i 60 år har legitimeret adoptioner fra udlandet til Danmark. Hvad enten det har drejet sig om ’uægte’ børn af hvide tyske kvinder og afroamerikanske soldater, børn af enlige mødre i Korea eller af aidsramte etiopiske forældre, har argumentet for at hente disse børn, fragte dem over landegrænser og installere dem i nye hjem i Danmark været, at de ville få det bedre her. For der er overskud og harmoni i den almindelige danske familie.

Børneimporten

I en ny bog fortæller de tre journalister Amalie Linde, Amalie Kønigsfeldt og Matilde Hørmand-Pallesen historien om, hvordan de organiserede adoptioner fra udlandet til Danmark begyndte. Om enmandshæren Tytte Botfeldt, der fuldt og fast troede på, at en hvilken som helst familie i Danmark ville være at foretrække for de tyskfødte »mulatbørn« (et ord, forfatterne selv vælger at bruge). Om de danske par, der gerne ville undgå ventelister og kontrol. Om de »idealister«, der ville vise skabsnazierne syd for grænsen, at her i Danmark kunne vi godt tåle lidt raceblanding. Om de danske politikere, der i et årti valgte at se gennem fingre med Tytte Botfeldts formidlingscentral. Og ikke mindst om de adopterede, som uden at være blevet spurgt eller informeret pludselig befandt sig hos fremmede mennesker, der som adoptivforældre befandt sig et sted i spektret mellem jævnt uharmoniske individer, som folk er flest, til decideret uligevægtige og livsfarlige voldspersoner.

De døde adoptivbørn

Børneimporten – Et mørkt kapitel i fortællingen om udenlandsk adoption er baseret på interviews med 35 af de adopterede, der kom til Danmark fra Vesttyskland i 1950’erne og 1960’erne. Forfatterne har desuden interviewet en række af de aktører, som var involveret i Glemte Børn – nu DanAdopt og AC Børnehjælp – og i Terre Des Hommes, der fik frataget sin autorisation til at formidle adoption i 1999 efter en sag om rumænske børn med falske lægeattester.

Allerede 30 år forinden havde både Glemte Børn og Terre Des Hommes været sat i forbindelse med en langt større skandale, som de fleste over 50 år vil huske fra medierne: Børnepsykiateren Ole Brems sad i bestyrelsen i både de private adoptionsforeninger og den amtslige Plejehjemsforening, der stod for godkendelsen af adoptanter. Sammen med sin kone Lise adopterede han ni børn fra bl.a. Tyskland. Tre af dem døde, og i bogen fortæller det overlevende adoptivbarn Iben om en ubegribelig ondskabsfuld mishandling. Ole Brems, der forsynede sin psykisk syge kone med store mængder af bl.a. morfin, udfærdigede selv dødsattesterne og brændte ligene. På grund af manglende beviser blev Ole Brems kun idømt to års fængsel og frataget sin lægeautorisation i to år – og kunne altså siden genoptage sin praksis. Lise Brems blev idømt fire års fængsel og permanent frataget retten til at virke som sygeplejerske. Frem til Lise Brems’ død i fængslet havde Tytte Botfeldt, der fortsat formidlede adoptioner, hyppig brevkontakt med hende.

Lovbrud – uden referencer

Forfatterne har også været i arkiverne og fundet mødereferater, betænkninger fra folketingsniveau, avisartikler og private brevsamlinger m.m. fra samtiden. Alt dette tjener som dokumentation for, at både mellemmænd, ministre og offentlighed kendte til den omfattende illegale adoptionstrafik fra udlandet. Også efter uddelingen af autorisationer brød organisationerne gang på gang loven uden større konsekvenser.

Desværre er der ingen kildehenvisninger gennem bogen, men blot en samlet liste over kilder for hvert kapitel. Det valg er velsagtens truffet ud fra hensynet til læsevenlighed. Men hvis noget sætter en stopper for læseflowet, er det, hvis man hele tiden spekulerer på, hvor en konkret oplysning stammer fra. Det stiller også bogen svagere både som anklageskrift mod tidens aktører og som afsæt for yderligere undersøgelser.

Psykosocialt fokus

De adopteredes livshistorier og fortolkninger af samme står centralt i bogen og udfoldes sideløbende med beskrivelsen af Tytte Botfeldts virke og dannelsen af de adoptionsorganisationer, vi kender i dag. Portrætdelen lader noget tilbage at ønske; man får fornemmelsen af livsforløb, men ikke rigtig af menneskerne bag. På samme måde står det lidt hen i det uvisse, hvad det konkret var for en samfundsmæssig kontekst, de afrotyske børn kom fra og til i 1950’erne og 1960’erne.

Der vies til gengæld stor opmærksomhed til psykosociale konsekvenser af og forklaringsmodeller for adoptionernes forløb, og bogen skriver sig dermed ind i en tradition i adoptionsforskningen, der nedtoner fokus på systemiske sammenhænge til fordel for et nyfigent blik på individet.

Vigtige brikker til historien

I de sidste kapitler sampler forfatterne egne spørgeskemaundersøgelser med alskens nyere og ældre forskning uden skelnen til, at dele af denne forskning positionerer sig i direkte indbyrdes konflikt. Det er også her, forfatterne samler op på historiens relevans for nutidens adoptionsdebat – bl.a. gennem kontrafaktiske spørgsmål såsom, hvorvidt det trods alt ikke var bedre for de adopterede at komme til Danmark, end hvis de var blevet i Tyskland. Et spørgsmål, forfatterne selv erkender, aldrig kan besvares. Netop derfor burde man måske undre sig over, at det altid bliver stillet.

Når det er sagt, er det prisværdigt, at forfatterne har fundet frem til de første generationer af adopterede fra udlandet adopterede for at give dem ordet og har forsøgt at dokumentere årtiers overgreb, embedsmisbrug og manglende indgriben over for adoptanter og mellemmænds lemfældige omgang med andre menneskers liv. Børneimporten bidrager med vigtige brikker til forståelsen af dansk adoptionshistories tvivlsomme liv og levned.

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