In re H B [Child] [2017] KEHC 9680 (KLR)

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI

MILIMANI LAW COURTS

FAMILY DIVISION

ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 44 OF 2017

IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT 2001

AND

IN THE MATTER OF ADOPTION OF CHILD H.B.

AND

IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY

D M K....................................................1ST APPLICANT

G W K...................................................2ND APPLICANT

JUDGMENT

1. The applicants are a Kenyan couple aged 56 and 50 years, respectively.  The 1st applicant is an [particulars withheld] by profession and runs his own [particulars withheld]  business while the 2nd applicant is a business lady.  They are married but have not been blessed with children.  They filed the originating summons on 13th April 2017 seeking to be allowed to adopt a female child who is estimated to have been born on 1st July 2014.

2. Child H.B. was on 6th July 2014 found abandoned outside the gate of Children Welfare Society of Kenya, Mama Ngina Kenyatta Temporary Place of Safety.  The matter was reported at Akila Police Post vide O.B No. [Particulars Withheld]  after which the child was rescued and admitted at the facility.  The child remained at the facility until 18th July 2014 when she was transferred to Frances Jones Dagoretti Children’s Centre (also known as Abandoned Baby Centre) for care and protection.  She was formally committed to Frances Jones Dagoretti Children’s Centre on 25th February, 2015 by the Senior Resident Magistrate Court in Nairobi, vide Protection and Care Cause No.47 of 2015.  The child has not been claimed by anyone, and police investigations to reveal her parents and/or relatives have not borne any fruit.  The child was declared free for adoption under section 156(1) of the Children’s Actby Child Welfare Society of Kenya on 8th March 2017 and was placed under the care of the applicants for mandatory bonding prior to adoption.  She has been under the continuous care of the applicants since 25th September, 2015.

3. The court on 3rd July 2017 appointed A W M as guardian ad litem and ordered that she files a report after carrying out a social inquiry on the applicants.  A similar report was sought from the Director of Children Services.  Both reports were duly filed, and each recommended that the applicants 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 interests 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 borne of 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 as the child was found abandoned.

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 D M K and G W K are hereby allowed to adopt Child H.B.;

b) child H.B. shall henceforth be known as H E W M;

c) the child’s date of birth shall be 1st July 2014, and shall be presumed Kenyan by birth having been found abandoned outside the gate of Children Welfare Society of Kenya in Kenya;

d) P M M 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;

e) the Registrar-General is directed to enter this adoption in the Adopted Children Register; and

f) the guardian ad litem is hereby discharged.

DATED and SIGNED at NAIROBI this 7TH day of NOVEMBER 2017

A.O. MUCHELULE

JUDGE

DATED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 9TH day of NOVEMBER 2017

R.E. OUGO

JUDGE