[2014] KEHC 7589 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants, both foreign nationals resident in Kenya, satisfied all statutory requirements for residency adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, abandoned at birth and unclaimed by biological parents, was declared free for adoption by the relevant agency. Reports from the adoption...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 7589 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: P G C; Applicant: M C C; Respondent: Baby J N alias A N [minor]
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 240 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption of Children, Residency Adoption, Parental Rights and Duties, Child Abandonment
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
P G C
Applicant
M C C
Applicant
Baby J N alias A N [minor]
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements for residency adoption under Kenyan law.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
- 3 Whether the child is entitled to Kenyan citizenship by birth.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants, both foreign nationals resident in Kenya, satisfied all statutory requirements for residency adoption under the Children’s Act. The child, abandoned at birth and unclaimed by biological parents, was declared free for adoption by the relevant agency. Reports from the adoption agency, Director of Children’s Services, and guardian ad litem were all favourable, confirming the applicants' capacity and the child’s best interests. The court emphasized that the adoption would provide the child with a stable family environment and that the applicants understood the finality and legal consequences of the adoption order, including inheritance rights. The court...
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, P G C and M C C, are allowed to adopt the child, Baby J N alias A N [minor].
- The child shall hereafter be known as A G C-C [minor].
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
19 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 240 OF 2013 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OFBABY J N alias A N [minor]
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, P G C and M C C, are British and French national respectively. They are currently resident in Kenya, where the male applicant is working with the United Nations at Nairobi, while the female applicant is a housewife. This is therefore a foreign resident application. The applicants filed their Originating Summons dated 10th October 2013 seeking the court’s permission to adopt the Kenyan male child known for the purpose of these proceedings as Baby J N alias A N[minor].
Baby J N alias A N, the subject of these adoption proceedings was born at the Kiambu District Hospital by J N who thereafter abandoned him at the hospital on 31st July 2010. Her parents are unknown. A report was made at the Kiambu Police Station. The child was thereafter committed at the Nest Children’s Home. His parents have not been traced to date. He was placed with the applicants on 5th June 2013.
This adoption is being arranged by the KKPI Adoption Agency, which filed in court a report on the background given above. The report is dated 29th October 2013. The child was declared free for adoption by the KKPI Adoption Agency by their certificate dated 29th May 2013.
To facilitate the adoption the applicant has been assessed by the Director of the Children’s Services and the guardian ad litem, Judy Mwihia, both of who have reports dated 28th November 2013 and 9th January 2014, receptively. 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 the applicants and he considers them to be his parents. I note that they have children of their own who are now adults.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the interests of the child that the child is adopted by the applicant. The applicant 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 applicant will be required to execute an undertaking that she 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 applicant 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 am satisfied that all the legal requirements for residency adoption have been met. The applicants, P G C and M C C, are hereby allowed to adopt the child, Baby J N alias A N [minor]. His name shall hereafter be A G C-C[minor]. I hereby appoint D J S and H M S legal guardians of the child should anything untoward happy to the applicant. The Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register. The guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
The said child was found abandoned at Kiambu County within Kenya to a known Kenya parents, he is therefore hereby declared to be Kenyan by birth. He is entitled to all the rights of a citizen flowing from the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 31st DAY OF January, 2014.
W. MUSYOKA
JUDGE