Nearly half of Denmark’s municipalities have not used forced adoption in five years

Almost half of Denmark’s 98 municipalities have not proposed any children for forced adoption over the past five years, despite a 2020 call from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to increase adoptions as a way to give vulnerable children “a real fresh start in life,” DR reports.

According to figures from the Board of Appeal (Ankestyrelsen), 42 municipalities—43 percent of the total—have not initiated a single forced adoption case between 2020 and 2024. The disparity has raised concerns about unequal treatment of families depending on where they live.

“This shows the arbitrary nature of adoption practices in Denmark,” said Sandra Abild, a social worker and former municipal leader in child welfare services. “The legislation was never intended to create such inconsistency. You could be a parent in one municipality where nothing happens, and in another, you risk losing your child.”

Forced adoption is among the most severe interventions in child welfare, permanently severing ties between a child and their biological family. Unlike foster care or family placements, adoption typically eliminates all contact.

Tønder Municipality, which has one of the highest rates of child removals in the country (twice the national average), has not proposed any adoptions in the same period. Trille Nikolajsen, head of children and family services in Tønder, said the municipality evaluates adoption monthly but has yet to find a case where it was the best solution.

“Adoption is an extremely invasive measure,” Nikolajsen said. “We want to be absolutely certain before making such a far-reaching decision, and we haven’t reached that point yet.”

Instead, Tønder prioritises family placements, where biological parents and children live with a support family to assess parenting capacity. If parents are deemed unfit, the child is typically placed in foster care—80 percent of Tønder’s removals follow this model.

Jeanette Gjørret, a lawyer specialising in adoption cases, criticised the uneven practices: “We often see municipalities assess parental competence very differently, leading to vastly different outcomes. This shows the system’s arbitrariness and undermines trust in these evaluations.”

The Association of Danish Municipalities (KL) maintains that legal safeguards ensure consistent handling of cases by central authorities after municipal proposals. However, critics argue the data reveals significant regional discrepancies in how child welfare laws are applied.