kehc-2021-02074

REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI FAMILY DIVISION ADOPTION CAUSE NO. E026 OF 2021(OS) IN THE MATTER OF THE CHILDREN ACT, 2001 AND IN THE MATTER OF BABY PM IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR ADOPTION BY JNM...........................................................................................1 ST APPLICANT MMK.........................................................................................2 ND APPLICANT JUDGMENT 1. The applicants JNM and MMK are a Kenyan couple aged 60 years and 53 years, respectively. The 1st applicant is sales executive at Mombasa [Particulars Withheld] Ltd while the 2 nd applicant is a clerk at [Particulars Withheld] County Town Clerk Department. They got married under Kikuyu customary law in 1990 and solemnized the same on the 4 th April 2018 under the certificate of marriage number [Particulars Withheld]. The couple does not have any children. On 27 th March 2021 they filed the originating summons dated 11 th March, 2021 seeking to adopt the Baby PM. 2. Baby PM was born on the 2 nd October 2016 to MAK at Kenyatta National Hospital as indicated in the birth notification serial number [Particulars Withheld]. The baby was then abandoned on the 3 rd October 2016 in the same institution where it was admitted at the New Born Unit under IP 18xxxxx. The matter was reported to Kenyatta Police Station vide OB No. xx/x/xx/2016. The baby was temporarily placed at Imani Rehabilitation Agency for Abandoned Children on the 25 th November 2016. She was formally committed to the said institution by the Nairobi Children Court in Protection and Care Case No. 89 of 2017 on the 29th March 2017. The final police letter is dated the 4 th July 2018 and indicated that all efforts to trace the mother or relatives of the child were not successful. On 3rd August 2018 the child was declared free for adoption and certificate No. 0306 issued by Buckner Kenya Adoption Services. The applicants have been with the child since the 17th May 2019 when the child was placed with them for foster care. 3. On 27th May 2021 the court appointed GWK as the guardian ad litem and ordered her and the Director of Children Services to separately carry out a social inquiry on the applicants to determine their suitability to adopt the child. The two reports were filed. Both recommended the applicants to 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 had bonded well with the applicants. 4. The court finds that it is in the best interest of the child to be adopted by the applicants. The applicants have demonstrated their capability 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 born to 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. The consent of the mother of the child is hereby dispensed with as she 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 JNM and MMK are hereby allowed to adopt Baby PM;

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