Anne Linnet's adoption of two Romanian children aged 7 and 12 is far from normal practice. So far that the association Adoption & Samfund sees the possibility of easier access to adoption for singles and homosexuals in the future.
The well-known singer and composer's adoption of the siblings, Peter and Maria, was the subject of a heated discussion over lunch when the Adoption & Society association held a national meeting at the weekend.
"We see it as a softening of the practice that has been in force until now, which must have fundamental importance for future adopters. Especially for single adopters and homosexuals. If other adopters are not treated according to the same principles, it will be an expression of double standards,' says the chairman of the association Adoption & Samfund, Lars Kluver.
There are three factors in particular that the association sees as completely fundamental in Anne Linnet's adoption case:
She already has three biological children and with the adoption of the sibling couple, she reaches a group of five children. She is single and has publicly confessed that she is sexually attracted to both men and women.
"The adoption departs from the counties' previous principles that special questions are asked when adopting a third child when there are already two children in the family. This case strongly undermines that principle, so that in future the counties should no longer look at the number of children in the family,' says Lars Kluver.
"The principles in the case must in future make it easier for single people to adopt, so that special requirements are no longer made.
Thirdly, I see it as a principled attitude towards gay adopters in this decision, which must have consequences for future practice.
Today, single adopters are asked questions, i.e. women, about whether they have regular contact with men, so that the child can have a natural relationship with men. With this decision, I think the logical consequence must be that these kinds of questions are no longer asked of single, female adopters. After all, this is a public figure who has made his sexuality known to both men and women,' says the chairman of Adoption & Society, who is not aware of similar cases that have so violently affected a current practice.
The adoption association is not enthusiastic about the way Anne Linnet has adopted the two Romanian children that she previously had as holiday children:
"It should not become a back road to adoption that you first take a holiday child with the aim of adopting later. Today it is a potential back road, but it should ideally not become the case that you automatically adopt holiday children. There are completely different criteria for being approved as a family for a holiday child than for an adopted child,' says Lars Kluver.
It is the association DanAdopt in Birkerød that has helped Anne Linnet get the adoption papers in order with the Romanian authorities. Here, office manager Ole Bergmann states that only very few children are adopted from Romania, i.e. maximum of five children per year.
"Romania is a very difficult country to work with because the information about the children is not always correct. It is a country where you have to be careful not to fall into the clutches of people who are corrupt and do not have good motives," says Ole Bergmann, who has four other cases on his table involving the adoption of holiday children."