[2014] KEHC 8292 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had satisfied all legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act. The child was abandoned, declared free for adoption, and placed with the applicants after thorough assessment. All reports from the adoption agency, guardian ad litem, and Director of Children Services...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2014] KEHC 8292 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: J N C; Applicant: L N M M; Respondent: Baby C A N (to be known as D M N)
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 124 of 2011
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- Adoption granted.
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- Adoption Procedure, Best Interests of Child, Parental Rights and Duties
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
J N C
Applicant
L N M M
Applicant
Baby C A N (to be known as D M N)
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements to adopt Baby C A N 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 legal requirements for adoption under the Children.s Act. The child was abandoned, declared free for adoption, and placed with the applicants after thorough assessment. All reports from the adoption agency, guardian ad litem, and Director of Children Services were favourable. The applicants demonstrated financial and emotional capacity to care for the child, who had bonded with them and considered them her parents. The court determined that adoption by the applicants was in the best interests of the child, ensuring her welfare, stability, and right to inherit. The applicants were made aware of the finality and binding nature of the...
Court Disposition
Adoption granted.
Orders
- The applicants, J N C and L N M M, are permitted to adopt Baby C A N, to be known as D M N.
- E M M and M M are appointed as the child.s legal guardians should misfortune befall the applicants during the child.s minority.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
20 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 124 OF 2011 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT
(NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY C A N
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, J N C and L N M M, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple. By their Originating Summons dated 18th July 2011 they seek to adopt a female child called Baby C A N.
The subject child, Baby C A N, was born on 26th September 2009 at the Ngong Sub-District Hospital, abandoned there by her birth mother the matter of the abandonment was reported at the Kenyatta Police Station. The child was thereafter admitted at the New Life Home Trust, Kilimani, on 18th December 2009, and she was later to be formally committed there by the Children’s Court. She was placed with the applicants on 9th August 2011 for the bonding period. The biological parents of the child were never traced.
This adoption is being arranged by the Little Angels Network adoption agency. The said adoption agency declared the child free for adoption through their certificate of 19th May 2010.
To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the Little Angels Network adoption agency, the guardian ad litem, Pastor Al E O and the Director of Children Services. All three have compiled and filed their reports in court. The report by the Director of Children Services dated 3rd May 2012, while that by Little Angels Network is dated 31st March 2010. The report of the guardian ad litem is dated 19th June 2012.
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 she considers them to be her 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 she 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 find that the application before me has merit and I hereby permit the applicants, J N C and L N M M, to adopt Baby C A N to be known hereafter as D M N. I hereby appoint E M M and M M the child’s legal guardians should misfortune befall the applicants during the child’s minority. The child is Kenyan by birth as she was born to a known Kenyan mother. I direct the Registrar-General to enter this adoption order in the adoption register. The guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 26th DAY OF September 2014.
W MUSYOKA
JUDGE
In the presence of Ms. Kiguatha advocate for the applicant