[2014] KEHC 7834 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including being assessed and recommended by the relevant authorities. The child, having been abandoned and with no known relatives, was eligible for adoption. The applicants demonstrated the capacity to...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 7834 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: J K K; Applicant: J W K; Respondent: Baby K D alias C F K K
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 208 of 2012
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Best Interests of Child, Parental Rights, Abandoned Children
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
J K K
Applicant
J W K
Applicant
Baby K D alias C F K K
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 legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including being assessed and recommended by the relevant authorities. The child, having been abandoned and with no known relatives, was eligible for adoption. The applicants demonstrated the capacity to provide for the child emotionally and financially, and the reports from the adoption society, Director of Children Services, and guardian ad litem were all favourable. The court held that the adoption was in the best interests of the child, who had bonded with the applicants and considered them his parents. The court further held that the child should be presumed Kenyan by birth,...
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, J K K and J W K, are allowed to adopt the child known as Baby K D, who shall hereafter be known as C F K K.
- 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. 208 OF 2012 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY K D alias C F K K
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, J K K and J W K, are Kenyan citizens, respectively. They are a married couple who are currently resident in Kenya. They seek to adopt Baby K D alias C F K K. Their originating summons is dated 14th August 2012.
The child in question was found abandoned on 7th August 2010 in the Nairobi Bus Station. The matter was reported at the Kiambu Police Station, who referred the child to the Kiambu District Hospital, from where the child was discharged on 12th August 2010. He was admitted at the Angel Centre for Abandoned Children, from where the applicants took custody of him on 23rd August 2010 for the mandatory three month period. It is estimated that he was born on the 24th July 2010
The child was freed for adoption by the KKPI Adoption Society, by its certificate of 29th June 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, M N G. The three have compiled and filed their reports in court. The report by the KKPI Adoption Society is undated, while that of the Director of Children Services is dated 19th November 2013. That by the guardian ad litemis dated 30th July 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 K and J W K, are hereby allowed to adopt the child known as Baby K D, who shall hereafter be known C F K K;
That the said child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned in Nairobi within Kenya.
That C W 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.