[2019] KEHC 11747 (KLR)
The court found that, in the best interests of the child, it was necessary to order a specific date of birth to facilitate the issuance of a birth certificate, as the child had been abandoned and no official record of birth existed. The court further held that the child, having been found abandoned within the...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2019] KEHC 11747 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: CNM
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 299 of 2014
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Ruling
- Outcome
- Application granted.
- Judges
- AO Muchelule
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Child Abandonment, Birth Registration
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
CNM
Applicant
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Ruling
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the court should order a specific date of birth for the abandoned child to facilitate issuance of a birth certificate.
- 2 Whether the child should be presumed Kenyan by virtue of abandonment within Kenya.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that, in the best interests of the child, it was necessary to order a specific date of birth to facilitate the issuance of a birth certificate, as the child had been abandoned and no official record of birth existed. The court further held that the child, having been found abandoned within the Kenyatta National Hospital compound in Nairobi County, should be presumed Kenyan. These orders were made to ensure the child could be properly registered and integrated into society, in accordance with the principles of the Children Act, 2001.
Court Disposition
Application granted.
Orders
- The child CW shall be presumed to be Kenyan, having been found abandoned at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi County.
- The date of birth of the child shall be 7th April 2012.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
16 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
FAMILY DIVISION
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 299 OF 2014(OS)
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT, 2001
AND
IN THE MATTER OF CHILD C.W.
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY
CNM.………………..……APPLICANT
RULING
1. The applicant was on 6th October 2017 allowed to adopt child C.W. The child had been found abandoned within Kenyatta National Hospital compound on 20th July 2012, and was estimated to have been born in April 2012. With that estimated date, the child was not able to get a birth certificate. The applicant therefore requested the court to order that the date of birth be 7th April 2012, or any other date of the month of April 2012, to enable the issuance of the birth certificate.
2. In the wider and best interests of the child, I direct that the child CW (CW) shall be presumed to be Kenyan having been found abandoned at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi County in Kenya. The date of birth shall be 7th April 2012.
3. The Registrar General is ordered to enter this adoption in the Adopted Children Register.
DATED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 3TH OCTOBER 2019.
A.O. MUCHELULE
JUDGE