[2017] KEHC 2735 (KLR)
The court found that the child was abandoned at birth and no relatives had come forward to claim him. The applicants, a married couple with two biological children, demonstrated the willingness, means, and suitability to adopt the child. All statutory requirements under the Children Act were satisfied, including the...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2017] KEHC 2735 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: D O N; Applicant: N N M; Respondent: Director, Children’s Services
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Kericho
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 3 of 2016
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- EM Ngugi
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Abandonment, Guardianship Appointment
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
D O N
Applicant
N N M
Applicant
Director, Children’s Services
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements to adopt the child under the Children Act.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
- 3 Whether proper procedures for declaring the child free for adoption were followed.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the child was abandoned at birth and no relatives had come forward to claim him. The applicants, a married couple with two biological children, demonstrated the willingness, means, and suitability to adopt the child. All statutory requirements under the Children Act were satisfied, including the child being declared free for adoption by a registered society, the applicants being more than 21 years older than the child, and positive reports from the Children’s Officer and Guardians ad Litem. The adoption was determined to be in the best interests of the child, who had already been integrated into the applicants' family. The court therefore granted the adoption order,...
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants are authorized to adopt the child, M J alias C M alias J S.
- The child is declared a Kenyan citizen and shall be re-named J S, with date of birth as 1st June 2014.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
25 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT KERICHO
ADOPTION CAUSE NO.3 OF 2016
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT (ACT NO.8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY M J Alias C M Alias J S (CHILD)
JUDGMENT
1. The applicant D O N and N N M are husband and wife aged 43 and 39 respectively. They have brought the application dated 10th February 2016 seeking to be authorized to adopt the male child currently identified and known as M J alias C M (sic).
2. D O N, the 1st applicant, is 43 years of age having been born in 1974. He is a [particulars withheld] profession and works at the [particulars withheld]. The 2nd applicant, N N M, was born in 1978 and is now aged 39. She is [particulars withheld] and is engaged as an [particulars withheld].
3. The applicants were married under Christian rites on 8th April 2005. They have two biological children, R M O born on 14th January 2006 and S M O born on 13th August 2010.
4. The minor in respect of whom this adoption cause relates is M J alias C M aliasJ S. According to the report from the Kenya Children’s Homes Adoption Society filed with the application, the child was born on 1st June 2014 to one C M at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital. His mother disappeared immediately after delivery and he was admitted at the new born unit at the hospital.
5. Upon discharge, he was placed at the Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre, Nakuru on 3rd July 2014. He was committed to the Africa Gospel Church Baby Care Centre, Nakuru on 14th January 2015 through Protection and Care [particulars withheld].
6. It was confirmed by Nakuru Police Station, to whom the abandonment of the child was reported vide occurrence book number [particulars withheld], that no-one had gone to the station to claim the child. Police efforts to trace his relatives were also futile. Accordingly, he was declared free for adoption by the Kenya Children’s Homes Adoption Society on 11th February 2015 and a freeing certificate serial no.1216 issued pursuant to section 156 (1) of the Children Act 2001. The child was placed with the applicants on 7th September 2015.
7. On 23rd September 2016, H K and V J K were appointed Guardians ad Litem in respect of the child. The Director, Children’s Services was also directed to investigate and file a report with respect to the suitability or otherwise of the applicants to adopt the child.
8. In his report dated 15th October 2016, the Children’s Officer, Bomet, notes that the child, who resides with his proposed adoptive mother, a [particulars withheld], appears to be happy with his adoptive parents. He notes further that the proposed adoptive father is a [particulars withheld]. The couple owns a piece of land at Kitale measuring 1. 2 acres which is developed with 3 semi-permanent houses, a bore hole, napier grass and bananas.
9. The Guardians ad Litem filed a report dated 14th July 2017. They describe the applicants as industrious and committed Christians, well able to provide for the child. They treat the child as they treat their own biological daughters.
10. I have considered the application and the documents in support. I note that the child, M J alias C M alias J S was abandoned at birth, and that no-one has gone to claim him since. I further note that the applicants, a [particulars withheld], though with two biological children of their own, have the willingness and means to take care of the child. They are aged 43 and 39 years respectively, and are therefore more than 21 years older than the child.
11. Accordingly, I hereby grant the orders sought by the applicants. The applicants are hereby allowed to adopt the child, M J alias C M alias J S.
12. The child is declared a Kenyan citizen and shall be re-named J S. His date of birth shall be 1st June 2014. The Registrar General is directed to make the appropriate entries in the Adopted Children’s Register, while the Registrar of Births and Deaths is directed to issue a birth certificate in respect of the child.
13. C O N and H K O, the 1st applicant’s brother and sister in law respectively, are hereby appointed the legal guardians of the child should any misfortune befall the applicants.
14. The Guardians ad Litem are hereby discharged.
15. It is so ordered.
Dated, Delivered and Signed at Kericho this 22nd day of September 2017.
MUMBI NGUGI
JUDGE