'AMY'S WILL' - NEW STRONG TV 2 DOCUMENTARY

Publication date: 24 January 2019

Amy travels back to Ethiopia hoping to be reunited with her family. The trip doesn't quite go as she had hoped. (Photos: Sunday Pictures / TV 2)

01/22/2019

TV 2 Dokumentar has for a number of years followed Amy, who was adopted away to Denmark and feels let down by both Danish and Ethiopian authorities. The documentary 'Amy's will' is sent on TV 2 and TV 2 PLAY on Thursday 24 January.

By Lene Pind, TV 2 Communication

Amy was taken away from Ethiopia to Denmark as a decade with her little sister. She has never fallen into this country and feels that both the Danish and Ethiopian authorities have failed her.

The new TV 2 documentary 'Amy's will' depicts the personal consequences of systematic failure in the international adoption system, seen through a young girl's personal struggle for justice and hunting for his lost identity. See the documentary on Thursday 24 January at 20.00 on TV 2 and TV 2 PLAY.

In the program TV 2 Dokumentar follows Amy's struggle against the Danish and Ethiopian authorities, since she is 13 until she is 18 years old. During that period she fights for her right to decide for herself where to live.

She is afflicted with heartfelt sorrow after the loss of her biological family, her mother tongue and the culture of Ethiopia, and very soon she comes to the brink of the adoptive parents and moves in with a foster family. Amy feels let down by the system in Denmark, and it leaves deep scars in her soul. But is our society at all geared to handle when an adoption goes wrong? And what rights do children have actually adopted?

Amy was born in Ethiopia, but as a decade she was adopted to Denmark. She has never fallen into this country and feels that the authorities have failed her.

Removed with force

Many Danes know Amy in advance. The girl who came in all the media after she was forcibly removed from her foster family under violent circumstances. There were violent scenes, many television viewers witnessed when Amy was screaming out of her foster family's arms and dragged into a car of educators from Næstved Municipality.

- 'Amy's Will' is a very strong and close depiction of what it means for a child when an adoption goes wrong and the child is caught between two cultures. The documentary clearly shows the human costs and points to some very relevant and important issues, says editor 2 of TV 2, Lasse Bjerre.

Taking the case alone

As Amy gets a little older, she will have her adoption withdrawn and lifted. Over five years, we follow Amy and her journey toward achieving her deepest desire: to restore the family bond that was broken one day to another, when she was just ten years old. Among other things, we are very close when Amy decides to go against the Danish authorities and flee to Ethiopia to be reunited with his family in Addis Ababa.

'Amy's Will' examines and unfolds the importance of both human and cultural relationships and ties, and how these affect and shape us as individuals. The documentary follows Amy when she approaches the Danish authorities for help, and on her journey to Ethiopia, where in the hope of finding herself and her family here, she also faces challenges she had not entirely anticipated.

See trailer for 'Amy's will' below.