Boy returned to parking lot after adoptive family changed their mind

A four-year-old Danish boy was returned to his original foster parents on a parking lot after his adoptive family decided they could no longer care for him, a new documentary by public broadcaster DR reveals.

Gustav—whose name has been changed for privacy—was removed from his biological mother just two hours after birth in North Jutland and placed with temporary foster parents, Lotte Nygaard and Michael Rasmussen. Seven months later, he was adopted by another family, only to be returned after less than a year.

The case is one of several featured in DR’s documentary series When the State Adopts Children Away, which follows families navigating forced adoptions. Since 2020, when Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called for more vulnerable children to be adopted into stable homes, the number of forced adoptions in Denmark has more than doubled, reaching 39 last year.

Foster mother Nygaard told DR she had concerns about Gustav’s adoptive family from the start but could not pinpoint why. Six and a half months after the adoption, authorities contacted Nygaard and Rasmussen, informing them the family could no longer care for Gustav.

When they collected him from a parking lot, the boy appeared withdrawn. “He was very subdued. There was no spark in his eyes like before,” Rasmussen recalled. Gustav, then 14 months old, could not yet walk or stand and showed signs of distress, including head-banging and sudden outbursts.

Nygaard and Rasmussen are not the only foster parents to experience such returns. Between 2020 and 2024, three of the 177 forcibly adopted children in Denmark were given back by their adoptive families.

Clinical child psychologist Jytte Mielcke, who has worked on forced removal cases for decades, warned that repeated relocations destabilise children. “It completely removes their sense of security,” she said.

Aalborg University professor Inge Marie Bryderup, who studies vulnerable children, called the rising number of forced adoptions a “terrifying social experiment” exposing families to “horrific processes.”

Local Government Denmark (KL) acknowledged the need for stability but noted that legal safeguards and complex cases often delay permanent placements. “When society takes such an extreme step as removing a child forever, it must be done correctly,” said KL director Christian Harsløf.

The adoptive family declined to comment.