[2013] KEHC 590 (KLR)
The court found that the applicants had complied with all statutory requirements for international adoption under Kenyan law. The child, having been abandoned and unclaimed, was eligible for adoption. The applicants had been thoroughly assessed and found suitable by both Kenyan and Italian authorities, and the...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2013] KEHC 590 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: P F; Applicant: E M; Respondent: Baby L K
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Commercial Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Adoption Cause 210 of 2013
- Procedural Posture
- Adoption Cause / Judgment
- Outcome
- adoption granted
- Judges
- DN Musyoka
- Legal Topics
- International Adoption, Child Abandonment, Parental Rights, Legal Guardianship
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
P F
Applicant
E M
Applicant
Baby L K
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Adoption Cause / Judgment
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the applicants meet the legal requirements for international adoption under Kenyan law.
- 2 Whether the adoption is in the best interests of the child.
- 3 Whether the child is eligible for adoption given her abandonment and unknown parentage.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the applicants had complied with all statutory requirements for international adoption under Kenyan law. The child, having been abandoned and unclaimed, was eligible for adoption. The applicants had been thoroughly assessed and found suitable by both Kenyan and Italian authorities, and the adoption was in the best interests of the child. The court was satisfied that the adoption would provide the child with a stable family environment and secure her rights as a Kenyan citizen. The adoption order was therefore granted, with the applicants assuming all parental rights and duties, and legal guardians appointed in the event of misfortune befalling the applicants.
Court Disposition
adoption granted
Orders
- The applicants, P F and E M, are allowed to adopt Baby L K, who shall be known as L K F F.
- B C and A B are appointed legal guardians of the child in the event of misfortune befalling the applicants.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
21 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI
ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 210 OF 2013 (OS)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT (NO. 8 OF 2001)
AND
IN THE MATTER OF BABY L K
JUDGEMENT
The applicants, P F and E M, are a married couple from Italy. They have brought an Originating Summons dated 15th July 2013 seeking leave to adopt Baby L K.
Baby L K, the subject of these adoption proceedings, was found abandoned in Ngashura of Nakuru. The matter was reported at the Nakuru Police Station on 6th January 2011. The subject child was admitted at the AGC Baby Centre for care and protection, where she was later committed by the local children’s court. It is from the institution that he was placed with the applicants on 11th June 2013 for adoption purposes. Her parents have not been traced to date
There is sufficient documentation which supports this background, prepared by and filed in court on 10th October 2013 by the Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society and contained in a report dated 2nd October 2013. The Kenya Children’s Homes adoption society has freed the child for adoption purposes and there is a certificate to that effect filed in court dated 11th October 2011.
To facilitate the adoption the applicant has been assessed by the guardian ad litem, A N, and the Director of Children’s Services, who have compiled and filed their reports in court. The report of the Director of Children’s Services is dated 18th November 2013. There is also a psycho-social report by the Town Council of Catanzaro, dated 25th March 2011. 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 considers them to be his parents.
This proposed adoption has been approved by the Children’s Court of Catanzaro in accordance with the Italian law. The court issued a decree of eligibility to international adoption dated 22nd August 2011. The proposed adoption also received the approval of the National Adoption Committee of Kenya on 21st February 2013.
I have also seen the confirmation from the Amici del Bambini, an Italian based foreign adoption society, dated 23rd July 2012 that a Kenyan adoption order would be received and recognised in Italy and a child so adopted will gain resident status. The Amici del Bambini has also given the assurance that it would ensure that the child will be protected in the event that something happened to the adoptive parents.
In the opinion of this court it would be in the interests of the child that the child 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 applicants 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 an international adoption have been met. The applicants, P F and E M, are hereby allowed to adopt the child, Baby L K, who shall be hereafter known as L K F F. B C and A B are hereby appointed the legal guardians of the child in the event of misfortune befalling the applicants. The Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register. The guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.
The child was found abandoned at Nakuru, Kenya, and he is hereby deemed to have been born Kenyan, and therefore entitled to all the rights that accrue to Kenyan citizens under the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 19th DAY OF December, 2013.
W. M. MUSYOKA
JUDGE