In Re of Baby D K [2014] KEHC 8032 (KLR)

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT MILIMANI

ADOPTION CAUSE NO. 120 OF 2013 (OS)

AND

IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN’S ACT

(NO. 8 OF 2001)

AND

IN THE MATTER OF BABY D. K.

JUDGEMENT

The applicants, T G N and J M M, are Kenyan citizens. They are a married couple. They seek to adopt Baby D. K. Their originating summons is dated 1st May 2013.

The child in question was found abandoned within the Kisii Estate, Makongeni, Thika Town. The matter was reported at the Makongeni Police Post on 25th June 2007. The child was referred to the Thika District Hospital for medical check-up, and thereafter to the Abandoned Baby Centre at Dagoretti for care and protection. He was later committed to the institution by the Children’s Court, and it is from there that he was placed with the applicants on 14th April 2010. The police were not able to trace the biological parents of the child, and nobody came forward to claim him. He was presumed to have been born on 25th June 2007.

The child was freed for adoption by the Child Welfare Society of Kenya by their certificate of 4th October 2011.

To facilitate this adoption, the applicants have been assessed by the Child Welfare Society of Kenya, the Director of Children Services and the guardian ad litem, H N. The three have compiled and filed their reports in court. That of the Director of Children Services is dated 3rd November 2013, while that of the guardian ad litemis dated 8th November 2013. The report by the Child Welfare Society of Kenya is dated 4th October 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 himself 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 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 am satisfied that all the legal requirements for a local adoption have been met, and I therefore make the following orders:-

That the applicants, T G N and J M M, are hereby allowed to adopt the child Baby D K, who shall hereafter be known D K N;

That the said child shall be presumed Kenyan by birth as he was found abandoned within Kenya;

That K M is hereby appointed legal guardian of the child in the event something untoward happens to the applicants;

That the Registrar-General is hereby directed to enter this adoption order in the adoption register; and

That the guardian ad litemis hereby discharged.

DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED at NAIROBI this 4th DAY OF July 2014.

W. MUSYOKA

JUDGE

In the presence of ………………………advocate for the applicants