[2015] KEHC 5612 (KLR)
The court found that the applicant satisfied all statutory requirements for local adoption under the Children Act, 2001. The applicant demonstrated financial, social, emotional, and moral stability and had established a strong bond with the child, who had been in her care for over two years. The biological mother...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2015] KEHC 5612 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: D A O; Respondent: Director of Children Services; Respondent: D J N O (guardian ad litem)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Commercial Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 113 of 2014
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- Adoption granted.
- Judges
- AO Muchelule
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Abandonment, Parental Rights Termination
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
More case intelligence is available
Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.
Parties
D A O
Applicant
Director of Children Services
Respondent
D J N O (guardian ad litem)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicant meets the legal requirements for adoption under the Children Act, 2001.
- 2 Whether the consent of the biological mother can be dispensed with due to abandonment.
- 3 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicant satisfied all statutory requirements for local adoption under the Children Act, 2001. The applicant demonstrated financial, social, emotional, and moral stability and had established a strong bond with the child, who had been in her care for over two years. The biological mother abandoned the child shortly after birth, and her whereabouts remain unknown despite police efforts. The court held that the best interests of the child would be served by granting the adoption, enabling the child to grow up in a family environment rather than an institution. The court further dispensed with the biological mother’s consent due to abandonment and ordered that the...
Court Disposition
Adoption granted.
Orders
- D A O is allowed to adopt child M.W. aka T., who shall henceforth be known as J Z A O.
- J A N O is appointed the legal guardian of the child should anything happen to the applicant before the child is of age.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
20 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 113 OF 2014
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT NO. 8 OF 2001
AND
IN THE MATTER OF CHILD M.W. aka T. (INFANT)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY D A O
JUDGMENT
The applicant D A O is a Kenyan, aged 32, and a single lady working as an Operations Officer at [particulars withheld] Bank. She seeks to be allowed to adopt child M.W. aka T. The child is aged 2 years 7 months and was born on 13th February 2012 at Thika District Hospital to one M W N who abandoned her on 16th February 2012. The incident was reported at Thika Police Station and recorded as OB.28/6/3/2012. Police efforts to trace the mother have been futile. The child was referred to Thomas Barnados Home from Thika District Hospital on 6th March 2012 and formally committed to the said home on 21st March 2012 by the Children’s Court at Thika vide Care and Protection Case No. 46 of 2013. On 16th October 2012 the child was declared free for adoption by Kenya Children’s Home Adoption Society and later placed with the applicant on 4th December 2012. She has been under the care of the applicant since then.
The reports filed in court by the Director of Children Services and the guardian ad litem D J N O show the applicant to be financially, socially, emotionally and morally stable. The child is reported to have bonded well and the two enjoy a good relationship. This Court is of the view that the best interests of the child will be served by this adoption as it will enable the child grow and develop in a family environment as opposed to life in an institution. The applicant will assume all the rights and obligations of the parents of the child, and treat the child as if it was born to her. The child will be entitled to inherit her property. Further, this adoption shall be final and binding during the child’s lifetime, and the applicant will not give it up owing to any subsequent unforeseen behavior or other changes.
The mother’s consent is hereby dispensed with as she absconded and abandoned the child and her whereabouts are unknown. This Court is satisfied that the applicant has met all the requirements for a local adoption under the Children Act, 2001. The following orders shall issue:-
D A O is hereby allowed to adopt child M.W. aka T. who shall henceforth be known as J Z A O;
J A N O is hereby appointed the legal guardian of the child should anything happen to the applicant before the child is of age;
the Registrar General is directed to enter this adoption in the Adoptions Register;
the Director of Immigration is hereby ordered to issue J Z A O with a Kenyan Passport; and
the guardian ad litem is hereby discharged.
DATED at NAIROBI this 13th day of March 2015.
A.O. MUCHELULE
JUDGE