[2014] KEHC 8250 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, having been abandoned and declared free for adoption, was eligible for adoption. The applicants demonstrated financial and emotional capacity to care for the child, and the reports from the...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 8250 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: P N N; Applicant: E W; Respondent: R K I
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 167 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Welfare, Parental Rights
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
P N N
Applicant
E W
Applicant
R K I
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements to adopt Baby P under the Children’s Act.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child as required by law.
- 3 Whether the child is eligible for adoption given her abandonment and status.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, having been abandoned and declared free for adoption, was eligible for adoption. The applicants demonstrated financial and emotional capacity to care for the child, and the reports from the adoption agency, guardian ad litem, and Director of Children Services were all favourable. The court held that the adoption was in the best interests of the child, as required by law. The applicants were therefore permitted to adopt the child, who would henceforth be known as P F W. The court also appointed a legal guardian for the child in the event of misfortune befalling the...
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, P N N and E W, are permitted to adopt Pauline, to be known as P F W.
- R K I is appointed as the child’s legal guardian should misfortune befall the applicants during the child’s minority.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
19 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 167 OF 2013 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY P
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, P N N and E W, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple. By their Originating Summons dated 24th July 2013 they seek to adopt a female child called Baby P.
The subject child, Baby P, was found abandoned on 16th September 2005 within the Parklands area of Nairobi. The matter of the abandonment was reported at the Parklands Police Station. The child was thereafter admitted at the Happy Life Children’s Home, where she was later to be formally committed by the Children’s Court. She was placed with the applicants on 22nd May 2006 for the bonding period. The biological parents of the child have never traced. It is estimated that she was born on 16th September 2005.
This adoption is being arranged by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption agency. The said adoption agency declared the child free for adoption by their certificate of 17th January 2007.
To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption agency, the guardian ad litem, R K I and the Director of Children Services. All three have compiled and filed their reports in court. The report by the Director of Children Services dated 15th May 2014, while that by Kenya Children’s Homes is dated 6th November 2013. The report of the guardian ad litem is dated 27th May 2014.
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 appears to have bonded well with them and she considers them to be her parents.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the best interests of the child that she 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 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 she 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 find that the application before me has merit and I hereby permit the applicants, P N N and E W, to adopt Pauline to be known hereafter as P F W. I hereby appoint R K I the child’s legal guardian should misfortune befall the applicants during the child’s minority. The child is hereby presumed to be Kenyan by birth as she was found abandoned in Nairobi, Kenya. I direct the Registrar-General to enter this adoption order in the adoption register. The guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 26th DAY OF September 2014.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE