[2014] KEHC 8276 (KLR)
The court found that the applicant had satisfied all statutory requirements for a local adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, having been abandoned and declared free for adoption, was eligible for adoption. The applicant demonstrated the capacity to provide for the child’s welfare, and all statutory reports...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 8276 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: R W N; Respondent: Baby K alias K N
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 227 of 2012
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- Adoption granted.
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Abandonment, Parental Rights, Best Interests of Child
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
R W N
Applicant
Baby K alias K N
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant meets 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 consent of the biological parents can be dispensed with due to abandonment.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicant had satisfied all statutory requirements for a local adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, having been abandoned and declared free for adoption, was eligible for adoption. The applicant demonstrated the capacity to provide for the child’s welfare, and all statutory reports were favourable. The court held that it was in the best interests of the child to be adopted by the applicant, and that the consent of the biological parents could be dispensed with due to their untraceability. The adoption order would vest all parental rights and duties in the applicant, and the child would be treated as if born to her, including rights of inheritance. The...
Court Disposition
Adoption granted.
Orders
- The applicant R W N is authorized to adopt the child Baby K alias K N.
- The consent of the biological parents is dispensed with.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
27 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 227 OF 2012 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY K alias K N
JUDGEMENT
R W N is a single applicant, who is Kenyan citizen. She seeks to adopt a Kenyan female child, known for the purposes of these proceedings as Baby K alias K N. Her Originating Summons is dated 19th October 2012.
Baby J W alias K N was found abandoned in Tassia Estate in Embakasi, Nairobi. She was rescued and taken to the Embakasi Police Station, where a report of the abandonment was made. The child was subsequently admitted at the Thomas Barnados House for care and protection, to which institution she was later formally committed by the Nairobi Children’s Court. She was placed with the applicant for the pre-adoption bonding period on 24th April 2012. It is estimated that she was born on 20th July 2011. Her biological parents were never traced.
This background is set out in the statement in support of the application as well as the affidavit of the applicant verifying the statement, and in the documents prepared and filed in court by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society on 4th January 2012.
The child was freed for adoption by Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society by their declaration certificate dated 24th April 2012.
To facilitate this adoption, the applicant has been assessed by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society, the Director of Children Services and the guardian ad litem, C M N. These three have compiled and filed their reports in court. The report by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society is dated 11th September 2012, while that by the Director of Children services is dated 25th June 2013. The guardian ad litem’s report is dated 16th April 2014.
All these reports are favourable and recommend the proposed adoption. The applicant has filed documents that demonstrate that she has the financial and emotional capability and capacity to take care of the child. The child appears to have bonded well with the applicant and she considers her to be her parent.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the best interests of the child that she is adopted by the applicant. The applicant will be able to provide a home and a family for the child to grow up in and thereafter be a useful member of the family. Consequently, the applicant shall assume all parental rights and duties of the biological parents in respect of the adopted child; she shall treat the adopted child as if she was born to her. The applicant has 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 her 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 court the application R W N to adopt the child Baby K alias K N;
That the consent of the biological parents of the child is hereby dispensed with;
The said child shall hereafter be known as L W N;
That C M N is hereby appointed the legal guardians of the child in the event of the untoward happening to the applicant;
That the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register;
That the guardian ad litemis hereby accordingly discharged; and
That the child is hereby presumed to be Kenyan by birth on account of having been found abandoned within Kenya.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 26th DAY OF September 2014.
W MUSYOKA
JUDGE