[2013] KEHC 6263 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act. The child was abandoned, the biological parents could not be traced, and the child was legally freed for adoption. The applicants demonstrated financial and emotional capacity to care for the child,...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2013] KEHC 6263 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: K M K; Applicant: S K K; Respondent: Baby E I (minor)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 59 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Best Interests of Child, Parental Rights, Abandoned Children
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
K M K
Applicant
S K K
Applicant
Baby E I (minor)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants have met the legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all statutory requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act. The child was abandoned, the biological parents could not be traced, and the child was legally freed for adoption. The applicants demonstrated financial and emotional capacity to care for the child, and the child had bonded with them. All professional reports recommended the adoption. The court determined that it was in the best interests of the child to be adopted by the applicants, who would assume all parental rights and duties. The adoption order would be final and binding, and the child would have the right to inherit from the applicants.
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, K M K and S K K, are allowed to adopt the child, Baby E I (minor), who shall hereafter be known as G K K (minor).
- B M K and P M M are appointed legal guardians of the child in the event something happens to the applicants.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
17 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
Adoption Cause No. 59 Of 2013 (Os)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY E I (MINOR)
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, K M K and S K K, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple. Their Originating Summons is dated 15th March 2013, in which they seek, among other orders, to adopt a female child, Baby E I (minor).
Baby E I (minor), the subject of these adoption proceedings is an abandoned child. He is estimated to have been born on 1st June 2011. He was abandoned in the (withheld) County by the roadside, on 27th August 2011, and a report was made at the Kikuyu Police Station by good Samaritans who had found him. He was admitted to an institution, the Dagoretti Children’s Home, to which he was later to be committed by the Children’s Court. He was placed with the applicants on 11th December 2011 and has been with them to date. The parents of the child have never been traced. Consequently, he was freed for adoption by the Little Angels Network adoption agency by their certificate of 21st November 2012.
To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the Little Angels Network, the guardian ad litem, J M, and the Director of Children Services. They have compiled and filed their reports in court. The reports by the Little Angels Network and the Director of Children Services are dated 5th December 2012 and 2nd May 2013. The guardian ad litem’s report is undated. 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 them and he considers them to be his parents.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the best interests of the child that she 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 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.
I am satisfied that all the legal requirements for a local adoption have been met. I will allow the applicants’ application to adopt the child. The applicants, K M K and S K K, are hereby allowed to adopt the child, Baby E I (minor) he shall hereafter be known as G K K (minor). B M K and P M M are hereby appointed legal guardians of the child in the event something happens to the applicants. The Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register. The guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 28th DAY OF June, 2013.
W. M. MUSYOKA
JUDGE