This case study is very intriguing, and raises interesting questions about cultural differences in childrearing, their impact on the child, and what criteria one should use to evaluate these things. From a modern Western perspective the story does seem shocking and one can understand the response of the Chief Medical Officer of Greenland, although one might think it much more appropriate to offer help with parenting, rather than remove all the children. The description of the case provides no information on many relevant factors. Is this case typical? Are the family members in their traditional environment? It is asserted that the mother loves her child, but support for this is mainly good physical care. How is this love shown? But the main question is whether the type of upbringing described will really help young Inuit children adapt successfully to their future life. And what is success? This can be approached from both a biological and psychological perspective.

There is certainly good evidence that the very early environment, both in utero and postnatally, can affect long-term vulnerability or resilience to a range of diseases and disorders including the psychological. The concept of fetal programming posits that during critical periods, the uterine milieu can alter the development of the fetus, with a permanent effect on the phenotype (Barker, 2003). Gluckman and Hanson (2005) have proposed the idea of the “predictive adaptive response” to explain the evolutionary purpose of such adaptations, and suggest that they prepare the offspring for the particular postnatal environment in which it will find itself.