[2022] KEHC 9993 (KLR)

In re Baby TJ (Infant) (Adoption Cause E030 of 2021) [2022] KEHC 9993 (KLR) (Family) (14 July 2022) (Judgment)

Neutral citation: [2022] KEHC 9993 (KLR)

Republic of Kenya

In the High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)

Family

Adoption Cause E030 of 2021

AO Muchelule, J

July 14, 2022

IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT, 2001 AND IN THE MATTER OF BABY TJ (INFANT) N THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY

In the matter of

OM

1st Applicant

JKL

2nd Applicant

Judgment

1. The applicants OM and JKL are a Kenyan couple aged 58 years and 49 years, respectively. The 1st applicant is a farmer while the 2nd applicant is an office administrator. They solemnized their marriage on the April 17, 2007 at the [Particulas withheld] Church, Ngong Road. The couple does not have children. They filed this originating summons dated October 15, 2020 seeking to adopt Baby TJ (infant).

2. Baby TJ is presumed to have been born on the March 18, 2018. The child’s parents are unknown. He was found by a good samaritan Catherine Kwambo of [Particulas withheld] abandoned along Kenyatta Road in Juja. The matter was reported at Juja Police Station vide OB No. [Particulas withheld] . The child was thereafter admitted at Thika Level 5 Hospital and subsequently discharged on the April 13, 2018. On the same day, he was referred to Macheo Children’s Centre. The child was formally committed to the institution by the Thika Children’s Court in Protection and Care Case No. 65 of 2018 on the April 19, 2018. Police efforts to trace the mother or relatives of the child were not successful as evidenced in the final police letter dated July 11, 2019. On July 17, 2019 the child was declared free for adoption and Certificate No. xxxx issued by the Kenya Children’s Home Adoption Society. The applicants have been with the child since the November 15, 2019 when he was placed with them for foster care.

3. On February 24, 2022 the court appointed Joel Nyongesa Wasilwa as the guardian ad litem and ordered him and the Director of Children Services to separately carry out a social inquiry on the applicants to determine their suitability to adopt the child. The two reports were filed. Both recommended the applicants to be allowed to adopt the child. The reports found that the applicants were socially, emotionally and financially stable and suitable to adopt the child. It was also found that the child had bonded well with them.

4. The court finds that it is in the best interest of the child to be adopted by the applicants. The applicants have demonstrated their capability to provide a conducive home and family environment in which the child will grow and develop. They will assume all parental rights and obligations of the biological parents of the child once adopted, and shall treat him as if he was born to them. They have been made aware that once the adoption order is made, it shall be final and binding during the lifetime of the child. The child shall have the right to inherit their property. The applicants shall not be able to give up the child owing to any subsequent unforeseen behaviour or other changes in the child. The consent of the parents of the child are hereby dispensed with as he was found abandoned.

5. Having been satisfied that all the legal requirements for a local adoption under the Children Act have been met, the following orders shall issue:-a.the applicants OM and JKL are hereby allowed to adopt Baby TJ (infant);b.Baby TJ shall henceforth be known as JNM;c.the child’s date of birth shall be 18th March 2018 and shall be presumed Kenyan citizen having been found abandoned in Kiambu County in Kenya;d.MD and JMW are hereby appointed as the child’s legal guardians in the event of the death or incapacity of the applicants before he is of full age and fully self-reliant;e.the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption in the Adopted Children Register; andf.the guardian ad litem is hereby discharged.

DATED AND DELIVERED AT NAIROBI THIS 14THDAY OF JULY, 2022. A.O. MUCHELULEJUDGE