https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2026/11864

In re AB (Minor) (Adoption Cause E329 of 2025) [2026] KEHC 11864 (KLR) (Family) (30 July 2026) (Judgment) Neutral citation: [2026] KEHC 11864 (KLR) Republic of Kenya In the High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts) Family Adoption Cause E329 of 2025 H Namisi, J July 30, 2026 N THE MATTER OF KINSHIP ADOPTION OF BABY AB (MINOR) In the matter of TWM Applicant Judgment 1.Before this Court is the Originating Summons dated 26 November 2025, Statement in support of the Application for an Adoption Order and Affidavit in support of the Application, seeking the following orders:i.That the consent of the biological parents of Baby AB be dispensed with since the child was abandoned shortly after birth;ii.That Ms TM be authorised to adopt Baby AB;iii.That the name AB be changed to GN;iv.That the court be pleased to appoint Mrs. JN of ID NO. 748xxx1 as the legal guardian of Baby AB upon granting the adoption order;v.That the Registrar General be directed to enter the new names of the child in the Adopted Children’s Register;vi.That Baby AB be considered a Kenyan citizen;vii.That the Court be pleased to make any further orders it deems necessary. The Applicant 2.The Applicant is a 43-year-old Kenyan citizen, born in Nakuru County. She professes the Christian faith, actively fellowshipping at the International Christian Centre in Kitengela. The Applicant's current marital status is single. The Social Inquiry Report details that she was previously married between December 2019 and May 2020; however, this union was formally and legally dissolved in August 2022. The Applicant has no biological children of her own but possesses significant experience in childcare, having been instrumental in raising her nieces and nephews. Her stated motivation for this adoption is deeply rooted in a desire to provide a stable, loving, and permanent familial environment for a vulnerable child, asserting that she possesses the energy, resources, and emotional maturity required for parenthood. The Applicant is gainfully and securely employed as an Auditor. 3.The Court has painstakingly scrutinized the Applicant's financial disclosures to determine her capacity to sustain the long-term material, educational, and medical needs of the child. A child's right to social security, education, and health is constitutionally guaranteed under Article 53 of the Constitution, and the adoptive parent must demonstrate the capacity to actualize these rights. The documentary evidence reveals that the Applicant earns a substantial disposable income to cater to the child's developmental requirements. Furthermore, the Applicant exhibits exceptional financial prudence; she reported zero liabilities and possesses significant unencumbered assets. These assets include a motor vehicle (Toyota Landcruiser, Registration KCC xxxA) and real estate parcels, notably a plot in Nakuru and her primary residence in Kitengela. 4.The Applicant's home environment was subjected to a rigorous Home Study Assessment by Change Trust on 1 December 2023, and a subsequent, independent Social Inquiry by the Directorate of Children Services (DCS) on 26 March 2026. The Applicant resides in New Valley Estate, Kitengela, Kajiado County. Both the DCS and the adoption society independently concluded that the physical environment is safe, highly conducive, clean, and optimal for the holistic development of a child. 5.Medically and psychologically, the Applicant is certified exceptionally fit. The Applicant appears mentally balanced and emotionally secure, and she has already arranged to extend her comprehensive employer-provided medical cover to encompass the adopted child, ensuring immediate and sustained access to premium healthcare. Furthermore, a Police Clearance Certificate confirms her unblemished legal record, utterly devoid of any criminal history. 6.The Applicant is deeply embedded in a supportive familial and social network. She maintains close, consistent relationships with her mother, JN, and her two brothers, JN and SN, visiting them frequently. She has also nominated a close associate and prayer partner, ANW, alongside her mother, to form a protective legal safety net for the child in the event of her incapacitation. Referees interviewed during the assessment process described the Applicant as a reserved but jovial, friendly, and deeply passionate woman with a strong motherly nature. The Child 7.The child is a female, estimated by medical professionals to have been born on or about 6 January 2024. The first 12 days of her existence remain shrouded in the mysteries of her unknown biological origins. On 18 January 2024, the infant was discovered abandoned at [Particulars Withheld] School, situated within the precincts of Nyeri town, by an unnamed good Samaritan. This individual, acting with commendable civic responsibility, promptly alerted police officers who were on active patrol in the vicinity. 8.The responding officers immediately secured the infant and officially recorded the incident at the Nyeri Central Police Station under Occurrence Book (OB) Number x/xx/01/2024. Recognizing the acute physiological fragility of a neonate exposed to the elements, the authorities bypassed bureaucratic delays and rushed the infant to the Nyeri County Referral Hospital for urgent medical evaluation, paediatric attention, and nutritional stabilization. The State's intervention successfully transitioned from emergency medical rescue to formal institutional protection on 8 February 2024. Through the direct intervention of the Sub-County Children Officer for Nyeri Central, the infant was officially admitted to the New Life Home Trust, a duly registered Charitable Children's Institution renowned for its paediatric care. 9.Simultaneously, the legal mechanism of state protection was activated. On that same day, 8 February 2024, the Nyeri Children's Court, acting under the Care and Protection provisions of the Children Act, issued a formal Committal Order (P&C Case No. E015/2024). The Magistrate, having been satisfied that the infant was a child in need of care and protection, committed the child to the custody of the Manager of New Life Home Trust for an initial investigatory period of three months. Because tracing efforts were still ongoing, this committal was subsequently extended by the Chief Magistrate's Court at Nyeri on 29 January 2025 for an additional six months. 10.Throughout the child's tenure at the New Life Home Trust, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, acting in concert with the Nyeri Central Police Station, conducted exhaustive tracing efforts to locate the biological mother, father, or any extended kinship network associated with the minor. These efforts, spanning a full calendar year, proved entirely futile. On 23 January 2025, a Final Police Letter was issued. This correspondence unequivocally stated that despite the passage of a year, the whereabouts of the child's mother remained a total mystery, and absolutely no relatives or guardians had emerged to claim the infant. The Police formally advised the caregivers to proceed with legal assistance for the child's permanent placement. 11.On 23 February 2025, the Case Committee at Change Trust convened to evaluate the minor's circumstances. Satisfied that all statutory tracing periods had lapsed, that reunification with biological kin was an absolute impossibility, and that institutionalization was contrary to the child's long-term welfare, Change Trust formally declared the child legally free for adoption. They issued Certificate Number 00xx6 on 25 February 2025. 12.Following rigorous social assessments, Change Trust facilitated a matching process, culminating in the placement of the child into the foster care of the Applicant on 25 April 2025. This placement marked the commencement of the mandatory statutory bonding period, transitioning the child from institutional survival to the warmth of family-based care. Analysis and Determination 13.I have considered the Summons, the evidence on record, as well as the various reports filed. 14.The duty of this Court is to analyse the material before it to determine whether the Applicant is a suitable adoptive parent. 15.In deciding any matter involving a child, the Court is obligated to give priority to the best interests of the child. Section 8 of the Children Act provides:1.In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies–a.The best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration;a.The best interests of the child shall include, but shall not be limited to the considerations set out in the First Schedule;2.All judicial and administrative institutions, and all persons acting in the name of such institutions, when exercising any powers conferred under this Act or any other written law, shall treat the interests of the child as the first and paramount consideration to the extent that this is consistent with adopting a course of action calculated to:-a.Safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of the child;a.Conserve and promote the welfare of the child; anda.Secure for the child such guidance and correction as is necessary for the welfare of the child, and in the public interest. 16.Under Section 184(1), no person shall commence any arrangements for the adoption of a child unless an approved adoption society has declared the child free for adoption. The Applicant appropriately engaged Change Trust, a society duly registered under the Act, which filed its report. The DCS, similarly, filed a positive report. 17.The Guardian ad Litem, Ms. ANW, whose sole mandate is to represent the child, observed that the minor has not merely integrated into the Applicant's household, but is visibly thriving. The child exhibits a deep, secure psychological attachment to the Applicant, recognizing her exclusively as her mother. The Guardian ad litem highlighted that the child is socializing well and growing in love on a daily basis, exhibiting a jovial nature and brilliant mannerisms born of careful nurturing. 18.The most critical procedural and substantive hurdle in this adoption cause is the total absence of consent from the biological parents of the minor. Section 186(8) of the Children Act mandates that an application for an adoption order must generally be accompanied by the written, informed, and unconditional consent of the child's parents, guardians, or any person having parental responsibility. The requirement of parental consent is a fundamental, globally recognized safeguard against illicit child harvesting, trafficking, and the unjust arbitrary severing of the biological family unit. 19.However, the law recognizes that rigid, blind adherence to the requirement of parental consent would result in immense, irreparable injustice for children whose parents have cruelly abdicated their responsibilities or simply vanished. Consequently, Section 187(1)(a) explicitly empowers the Court to dispense with the consent of a parent or guardian if the Court is satisfied that the person has abandoned, neglected, persistently failed to maintain, or persistently ill-treated the child. Furthermore, Section 187(1)(c) allows dispensation if the person whose consent is required cannot be found or is incapable of giving consent. 20.The evidence of abandonment is irrefutable and heartbreaking. The child was discovered dumped at [Particulars Withheld] School when she was barely days old, a perilous situation that exposed the fragile infant to grave physical danger, potential predation, and the elements. This act alone constitutes severe neglect and abandonment under Section 187(1)(a). Consequently, the Court exercises its statutory discretion to entirely and unconditionally dispense with the consent of the biological parents. 21.This Court finds that the Applicant has enveloped this vulnerable child in a blanket of unconditional love and robust material security. Denying this adoption would cruelly sever a critical psychological bond that the child has formed, return her to institutional uncertainty, and flagrantly contravene the very essence of Article 53(2) of the Constitution. The Court is unreservedly convinced that the adoption of the child by the Applicant is the absolute, unquestionable embodiment of the child's best interests. 22.Accordingly, I allow the Summons and make the following orders:i.The Applicant, T.W.M, is hereby authorised to adopt the child identified as AB, who shall henceforth be known as GN;ii.The child is declared to be a Kenyan citizen by birth, entitled to all the rights and privileges under the Constitution of Kenya and all applicable laws.iii.JN is appointed as the legal Guardian of the child;iv.The Guardian ad Litem is hereby discharged;v.The Registrar-General is directed to make the appropriate entries in the Adopted Children’s Register;vi.The relevant department under the Civil Registration Services is hereby directed to issue a post adoption Certificate of Birth in respect of the child; DATED AND DELIVERED AT NAIROBI THIS 30 DAY OF JULY 2026HELENE R. NAMISIJUDGE OF THE HIGH COURTDelivered on virtual platform in the presence of:For Applicant: in personCourt Assistant: Lucy Mwangi