[2014] KEHC 7821 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including favorable assessments by the adoption society, the Director of Children Services, and the guardian ad litem. The child, having been abandoned and unclaimed, was eligible for adoption and...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 7821 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: J K G; Applicant: R M K; Respondent: Baby T (to be known as G G)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 135 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Best Interests of Child, Parental Rights, Child Abandonment
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
J K G
Applicant
R M K
Applicant
Baby T (to be known as G G)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
- 3 Whether the child should be presumed Kenyan by birth.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including favorable assessments by the adoption society, the Director of Children Services, and the guardian ad litem. The child, having been abandoned and unclaimed, was eligible for adoption and presumed Kenyan by birth. The applicants demonstrated the capacity to provide a stable, loving home, and the adoption was deemed to be in the child.s best interests. The court emphasized that the adoption order would be final and binding, conferring full parental rights and obligations on the applicants, including inheritance rights for the child.
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, J K G and R M K, are allowed to adopt the child known as Baby T, who shall hereafter be known as G G.
- The child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned in Nairobi within Kenya.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
25 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 135 OF 2013 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY T
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, J K G and R M K, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple who are currently resident in Kenya. They seek to adopt Baby T. Their originating summons is added 20th May 2013.
The child in question was found abandoned immediately after birth on 22nd February 2004 at a place that is not documented, and was taken to the Mama Ngina Children’s Home, from where she was transferred to the Missionaries of Charity at Huruma. The matter of the abandonment was reported at the Huruma Police Post. It is to be presumed that the said child was found abandoned within the Nairobi County. The parents or relatives of the child have not been traced todate. The child was placed with the applicants on 14th April 2012. It is estimated that he was born on the 22nd day of February 2004.
The child was freed for adoption by the KKPI Adoption Society, by its certificate of 14th April 2012.
To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the KKPI Adoption Society, the Director of Children Services and the guardian ad litem, H N N. The three have compiled and filed their reports in court. That of the KKPI Adoption Society is dated 19th June 2103, while that of the Director of Children Services is dated 2nd October 2013. That of the guardian ad litemis dated 19th December 2013.
All these reports are favourable and recommend the proposed adoption. The applicants have demonstrated that they have the financial and emotional capability and capacity to take care of the child. The child himself appears to have bonded well with them and he considers them to be his parents.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the best interests of the child that he is adopted by the applicants. The applicants will be able to provide a home and a family for the child to grow up in and to thereafter be a useful member of the family. Consequently, the applicants shall assume all parental rights and duties of the biological parents in respect of the adopted child; they shall treat the adopted child as if he was born to them. The applicants have been made aware that once the adoption order is made it shall be final and binding during the lifetime of the child and that the child shall have the right to inherit their property. The applicant cannot give up the child owing to any subsequent unforeseen behaviour or other changes in the child.
I am satisfied that all the legal requirements for a local adoption have been met, and I therefore make the following orders:-
That the applicants, J K G and R M K, are hereby allowed to adopt the child known as Baby T, who shall hereafter be known G G;
That the said child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned in Nairobi within Kenya.
That S T K is hereby appointed legal guardian of the child should misfortune befall the applicants;
That the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register; and
That the guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 25th DAY OF April, 2014.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE
In the presence of ……………………….advocate for the applicants.