New adoption rules must get more people to adopt Danish children
There is a need for more people to adopt Danish children, and new rules must do something about this.
From Tuesday, those who want to adopt a child can therefore both sign up for a list with children from abroad and one with children here from Denmark.
This has not been the case so far, where you could only sign up for one of the lists. The hope is that the change will make more people sign up to adopt Danish children.
In recent years, the number of applicants to adopt a Danish child has decreased, at the same time as there has been an increase in the number of children released for adoption in Denmark.
The lack of adoptive parents for Danish children has become a challenge, says chairman of the Adoption Board Thomas Lohse.
- A lot has changed in the last few years because more and more children are coming for national adoption. This means that more families are needed than there have been in the past.
The fact that there are more children on the list of Danish children is mainly due to the fact that there are more children who are released for adoption without the parents' consent.
In 2015, when the rules for forced adoption were significantly stricter, there were no adoptions without consent, but six adoptions with consent.
In 2020 until 2 November, there were 20 children who were forcibly adopted, while there were 12 for adoption with consent.
During the same period, the number of applicants on the list has fallen from 85 to 14.
The new change, which is to provide more adoptive parents for Danish children, has been implemented by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Elderly in collaboration with a working group.
The working group noted in a report from April 2021 that the increased number of adoptions without consent has created a fear among the adoptive families that the adoption may not be completed in the end.
According to Thomas Lohse, there are several benefits to the new rules.
The law is pieced together so that you do not end up with two different children from two different lists.
As soon as the adoption process is started, the organizations that mediate the adoptions are obliged to inform each other.
If a child is proposed on the national list, the application for international adoption will be suspended. Conversely, if DIA (Danish International Adoption, ed.) Sends an application to a donor country, you can no longer be registered for national adoption, says Thomas Lohse.
The government announced last year that more children should be adopted. This is stated in the government's proposal "Children first", which was presented in January 2021.
Minister of Social Affairs and the Elderly Astrid Krag (S) believes that many are not aware that a child can be adopted in Denmark.
- And there is no reason to have the restriction that has been so far, where you can only be listed on one list.
- With the information material and the new waiting list system, I hope and believe that more people will in this way contribute to giving the children a better and safer upbringing, the minister says in a written comment.
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