[2019] KEHC 11707 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children Act, 2001. The child was abandoned and efforts to trace her biological parents or relatives were unsuccessful, justifying the dispensation of their consent. Social inquiry reports confirmed the applicants'...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2019] KEHC 11707 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: GKM; Applicant: MNK; Respondent: Director of Children Services
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 104 of 2018
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- AO Muchelule
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Best Interests of Child, Parental Rights, Child Abandonment
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
More case intelligence is available
Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.
Parties
GKM
Applicant
MNK
Applicant
Director of Children Services
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements for adoption under the Children Act, 2001.
- 2 Whether it is in the best interests of the child to be adopted by the applicants.
- 3 Whether the consent of the biological parents or relatives is necessary given the abandonment of the child.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children Act, 2001. The child was abandoned and efforts to trace her biological parents or relatives were unsuccessful, justifying the dispensation of their consent. Social inquiry reports confirmed the applicants' suitability and the positive bonding with the child. The court determined that adoption by the applicants is in the best interests of the child, providing her with a stable and loving family environment. The applicants were made aware of the finality of the adoption order and their parental obligations. The court therefore granted the adoption and issued consequential orders...
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants GKM and MNK are hereby allowed to adopt T.G.
- The child shall be presumed Kenyan having been found abandoned in Nairobi, Kenya.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
26 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
FAMILY DIVISION
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 104 OF 2018(OS)
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT, 2001
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY TG
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY
GKM...............................1st APPLICANT
MNK.............................2nd APPLICANT
JUDGMENT
1. The applicants are a Kenyan couple aged 53 and 38 years, respectively. The 1st applicant is an engineer while the 2nd applicant is a procurement officer. They married in 2012 under the Kamba customary law. They have no child. However the 1st applicant has a son, DMC On 31st January 2019 they filed the originating summons dated 2nd August 2018 seeking to adopt baby TG
2. Baby TG is presumed to have been born on 12th February 2016. The child was found abandoned in Nairobi by a good samaritan. The matter was reported at Soweto Police Station on 15th July 2016 vide O.B Number XX/12/XX/2016. A temporary placement was secured at Imani Children’s Home. On 9th November 2016 the baby was committed to the facility by the Senior Magistrate’s Children Court at Nairobi vide Protection and Case Number 331 of 2016. The child was declared free for adoption on 7th April 2017 under certificate number [Particulars Withheld] by the Buckner Kenya Adoption Services and it was placed with the applicants on 21st May 2017 for mandatory bonding. Police efforts to trace the parents or relatives of the child were not successful.
3. On 20th September 2018 the court appointed LMP as the guardian ad litem and ordered her and the Director of Children Services to carry out a social inquiry on the applicants to determine their suitability to adopt the child and to report within 45 days. They each filed a report recommending 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 and the applicants had bonded well.
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 ability 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 her as if she 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. This court dispenses with the consent of the child’s biological parents or relatives as they have never been traced.
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 GKM and MNK are hereby allowed to adopt T.G;
b) the child shall be presumed Kenya having been found abandoned in Nairobi Kenya;
c) the child’s date of birth shall be 12th February 2016;
d) Baby TG shall henceforth be known as KNK;
e) JMM is hereby appointed to be the child’s legal guardian in the event of death or incapacity of the applicants before she is of full age and fully self-reliant;
f) the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption in the Adopted Children Register; and
g) the guardian ad litem is hereby discharged.
DATED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 26th day of SEPTEMBER 2019.
A.O. MUCHELULE
JUDGE