In Re Apiyo Grace (child) (HCT – 02- CV – MC – 0057 – 2014)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The High Court granted the adoption petition. Held that the welfare principle is the paramount consideration in matters concerning children. Although the petitioner had fostered the child for 29 months instead of the required 36 months, the court found exceptional circumstances existed. The petitioner had cared for the child since she was five months old, the biological parents were unable to provide care, and the child knew only the petitioner as her mother. The court held it was in the child's best interest to allow the adoption to proceed immediately rather than delay.

Outcome

Adoption petition granted; petitioner appointed adoptive parent with full parental rights and responsibilities; biological parents' rights terminated

Facts

Brooke Bocast, a 33-year-old unmarried American citizen, petitioned to adopt Apiyo Grace, a child born on 24 September 2011 as one of triplets. The biological parents, Alengo Justine and Acan Alice, were peasant farmers unable to care for the triplets. The father denied responsibility. The biological mother surrendered Apiyo Grace when she was five months old. The petitioner had been granted legal guardianship of the child by the court in Gulu Family Cause No. 84 of 2013 and had cared for her continuously since then. Apiyo Grace's two siblings had been adopted and were living in New York. The petitioner had fostered the child for 29 months at the time of the petition and was facing relocation for a new job outside Uganda. She sought to adopt the child to enable the child to accompany her and to reunite with her siblings.

Issues

1. Whether the grant of the adoption petition is in the best interest of the child Apiyo Grace.
2. Whether the applicant is a suitable adoptive parent for the child.

Orders

• The child Apiyo Grace is declared the adopted child of Brooke Bocast and the relationship of parent and child is hereby established with all rights and privileges incident thereto including the right of inheritance.
• The parental rights of all others with respect to the child not previously terminated are hereby terminated.
• The petitioner Brooke Bocast shall have exclusive care, custody and control of the said child free from claims or hindrances of all others and shall be responsible for her education, maintenance and support.
• The child shall maintain her two names of Apiyo Grace but the petitioner is at liberty to add her family name.
• The Registrar General of Births and Deaths is hereby directed to make an entry recording this adoption in the Adopted Children Register and issue a certificate to Brooke Bocast reflecting the names and parental relationship established herein.
• This adoption order is to be furnished to the consular Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kampala.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (9)

• Children Act Cap 59 s.3
• Children Act Cap 59 s.45
• Children Act Cap 59 s.45(1)
• Children Act Cap 59 s.46
• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda Article 139
• Judicature Act s.14
• Judicature Act s.33
• Judicature Act s.39
• Civil Procedure Act s.98

Cases cited (1)

• Deborah Joyce Alitubeera (Civil Appeal No. 70 of 2011)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.