Childless on waiting list hesitates with Danish adoption

An adoption from abroad can cost up to 300,000 kroner, while a Danish one is free. At the same time, it goes faster. Nevertheless, so far relatively few want to switch from the international to the Danish waiting list.

For the first time in many years, there are more Danish than foreign children for adoption.

Figures from the National Board of Appeal show that 40 children born in Denmark were adopted in 2020.

In comparison, 23 adopted children came here from abroad, which is a record few.

This has led the National Board of Appeal to offer couples and singles who are on a waiting list for a foreign child to move to the list of Danish children.

About 70 couples and singles have received an inquiry, says chief consultant in the agency Karin Rønnow Søndergaard.

Of those, between 10 and 15 have said yes.

This is even though the waiting time is shorter, and a Danish adoption - as opposed to a foreign one - is free for the adopters.

According to Karin Rønnow Søndergaard, one explanation may be that some are connected to the country in the world that they want to adopt from.

- It may be that they themselves have been adopted from the country in question, or that they already have a child from that country. But we do not know the cause.

In Adoption and Society, which looks after the interests of adoptive parents and adoptees, Deputy Chairman Sanne Vindahl Nyvang says that it occurs to many that it is at all within reach to adopt a Danish child.

Since the free abortion in 1973, there have been very few Danish children for adoption. Some years under 10.

- Few had imagined that there would be so many children in Denmark for adoption.

- But it can also come into play that some of the children may be injured on a different level than children by international adoption. It is a change that we must become wiser about how we handle, says Sanne Vindahl Nyvang.

When there are more Danish children than before, this is due to the municipalities making greater use of the legislation on forced adoption.

Among the children who were adopted last year, it happened for the most part without the consent of the biological parents.

According to the government, more children must be able to be adopted. This is stated in the play "The children first", which was presented in January.

The proposal points as the most far-reaching to several forced abortions already before birth.