Another case on the way: Greenlandic adopted children are investigating the possibility of a compensation case against the state

 Danish authorities helped deprive Greenlandic children of their identity through illegal adoptions before 1979. This is the opinion of a group of adopted children who will now demand compensation and an apology from Denmark.

Margrete Johansen found her biological mother in Greenland at the age of 39. Today, she is one of the adopted children who want to file a lawsuit against the Danish state for illegal adoption from Greenland.
 

There may well be another compensation case on the way against the Danish state. This time from a group of citizens who, as children, were adopted away from Greenlandic parents to Danish couples.

The group currently consists of seven people who want to file a case against Denmark for illegal adoptions from Greenland that took place before home rule was introduced.

One of them is Margrete Johansen, who was adopted into a Danish family in 1951.

- We want to legally obtain a thank you, an apology and compensation. Those are probably the legal terms here, she says to KNR.

The group is inspired by the cases of the experimental children, the legally fatherless and the victims of the spiral campaign.

However, Margrete Johansen also believes that the Danish state should say an official thank you for the contributions and abilities that Greenlandic adopted children have given to Denmark over the years. 

The whole background to the case is that from 1923 to 1976 Greenland was covered by the Danish Adoption Act. It only gave the right to "closed" adoptions, where all ties and rights between the biological parents and the child are broken.

Anthropologist and principal at Ilisimatusarfik, Gitte Adler Reimer, has previously stated to KNR that in connection with a dissertation on kinship in Greenland, she learned that not all parents at the time fully understood that they were giving their child away forever through adoption.

Encourages adopted children to get in touch

KNR has previously told Margrete Johansen's  adoption story.

In short, she was adopted as an infant by a Danish couple in 1951 in Ilulissat. The couple moved to Denmark the same year, where she grew up with the story that her mother had adopted her away when she was sick with tuberculosis and died of it.

Margrete Johansen had a turbulent upbringing with many moves and no ties to Greenland.

But at the age of 39, she found her biological family and her mother on a trip to Greenland and learned that the mother had never given her consent to an adoption.

Also read Researcher and author support Margrete: Help with information about adoptions

Principal Gitte Adler Reimer carried out a count in 2010 which showed that at least 257 Greenlandic children were adopted by Danish couples between 1964 and 1979. But the number is probably higher.

And Margrete Johansen and the group, who now want to sue the state, would very much like to get in touch with some of them.

- We know there are a lot of us out there, she says and adds: 

- My appeal to other Greenlandic adoptees is that you should apply, so that we can become more. Because the more we are, the stronger we are.

Very different upbringing

Margrete Johansen emphasizes that the upbringing of the children who were adopted away from Greenlandic parents until 1979 was very different.   

For some, the adoptions have probably given the children a better life than what their biological parents could have offered.

But what they have in common is that the adoptions may have taken place on questionable legal grounds, also based on the laws of the time. And the Danish state should recognize and take responsibility for this, because it was Danish authorities who, until 1979, were responsible for all adoptions in Greenland.

HOW TO FIND INFORMATION ON YOUR FAMILY

Information about  adoptions within Greenland  can in most cases be found at the Norwegian Ombudsman in Nuuk and at Greenland's Archives.

Some cases about  adoptions from Greenland  will also be found at the Ombudsman in Nuuk.

If  the adoptive family lives or lived in Denmark , the information must also be sought from the National Archives of Denmark, which you will find here.

If the adoption to a Danish couple took place  within the last 75 years , you must apply for permission to see the information at the National Archives in Denmark.  Find the instructions here .

On the basis of the DR series "Missing heirs", the National Archives of Denmark has also produced a special guide for those looking for their family ties in Greenland.  See the guide here.

Source: The Ombudsman in Greenland, the National Archives in Denmark

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Margrete Johansen and the group therefore want the same treatment that the experimental children have received from official Denmark.

- We want the same as them; namely a recognition that life has not been a bed of roses, says Margrete Johansen.

It is the law firm Ehmer Pramming that represents the group of Greenlandic adopted children.

The company informs KNR that they are in the process of investigating the case with a view to a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and that the company gives the case a high priority.