[2014] KEHC 7825 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including being assessed and recommended by the relevant authorities. The reports from the adoption society, the Director of Children Services, and the guardian ad litem were all favourable. The court...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 7825 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: L K R; Applicant: M W K; Respondent: Baby M
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 137 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
L K R
Applicant
M W K
Applicant
Baby M
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
- 3 Whether the child should be presumed Kenyan by birth.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act, including being assessed and recommended by the relevant authorities. The reports from the adoption society, the Director of Children Services, and the guardian ad litem were all favourable. The court determined that the adoption was in the best interests of the child, who had bonded with the applicants and would benefit from a stable family environment. The child, having been abandoned in Kenya, was presumed Kenyan by birth. The applicants were made aware of the finality and binding nature of the adoption order and the child.s right to inherit their property. The court was...
Court Disposition
Adoption granted.
Orders
- The applicants, L K R and M W K, are allowed to adopt the child known as Baby M, who shall hereafter be known as M B W K.
- The child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned in Samburu County within Kenya.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
25 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 137 OF 2013 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY M
JUDGEMENT
1. The applicants, L K R and M W K, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple who are currently resident in Kenya. They seek to adopt a female child called Baby M. Their originating summons is dated 7th June 2013.
2. The child in question was found abandoned on 22nd May 2011 at a place that is not documented, but the matter of the abandonment was reported at the Maralal Police Station. It is to be presumed that the said child was found within Samburu County. The police in conjunction with the local state children’s officers referred the child to the Missionaries of Charity Children’s Home at Maralal for care and protection. The child was later transferred to the Missionaries of Charity Children’s Home at Nairobi, from where the child was placed with the applicants on 15th September 2011. It is estimated that he was born on the 22nd day of May 2011.
3. The child was freed for adoption by the KKPI Adoption Society, by its certificate of 18th September 2013.
4. To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the KKPI Adoption Society, the Director of Children Services and the guardian ad litem, M G. The three have compiled and filed their reports in court. That of the KKPI Adoption Society is undated, while that of the Director of Children Services is dated 26th November 2013. That of the guardian ad litemis dated 15th September 2013.
5. 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 herself appears to have bonded well with them and she considers them to be her parents.
6. In the opinion of this court it would be in the best interests of the child that he 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 to 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 he 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.
7. I am satisfied that all the legal requirements for a local adoption have been met, and I therefore make the following orders:-
a. That the applicants, L K R and M W K, are hereby allowed to adopt the child known as Baby M, who shall hereafter be known M B W K;
b. That the said child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned in the Samburu County within Kenya.
c. That J K is hereby appointed legal guardian of the child should misfortune befall the applicants;
d. That the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register; and
e. That the guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 25th DAY OF April, 2014.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE
In the presence of ……………………….advocate for the applicants.