Wakilii

IN RE Rehema Naigaga & Angel Namusubo (Children) by Petros Lutras & Aikaterini Zisimopoulou (Misc. Cause No.22 of 2019)

High Court · [2019] UGHC 12 · 2019 Adoption Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Adoption petition brought under the Children Act as amended by the Act of 2016 seeking an order to adopt two Ugandan children by Greek nationals
Decision
Adoption petition granted with conditions requiring petitioners to return and reside in Uganda with the children for four months within two years and to file progress reports every three years

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.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The court granted the adoption petition in exceptional circumstances. Two Greek nationals were permitted to adopt two Ugandan children despite not meeting the one-year continuous residence requirement under the Children Act. The court found exceptional circumstances based on one child's serious congenital heart disease requiring urgent overseas treatment. The petitioners satisfied all other statutory requirements including fostering, suitability assessments, and recommendations from Greek and Ugandan authorities. The court ordered that the adoptive parents return to reside in Uganda with the children for four months within two years to ensure meaningful cultural engagement.

Outcome

Adoption petition granted with conditions requiring petitioners to return and reside in Uganda with the children for four months within two years and to file progress reports every three years

Facts

Two Greek nationals petitioned to adopt two Ugandan children. Rehema Naigaga was found abandoned as an infant in a sugar cane plantation and subsequently diagnosed with congenital heart disease requiring open heart surgery. Angel Namusubo was born to a deaf-mute mother who had been defiled as a teenager. The father was never identified. The child's maternal grandmother, though willing to care for the child, was financially and socially constrained with seven other children to support on approximately 80,000 shillings monthly. Both children were placed in institutional care before being fostered by the petitioners. The petitioners had not resided in Uganda for one year as required by statute. Medical reports confirmed Naigaga required surgery best performed in Greece, and the petitioners had means and insurance to provide treatment.

Issues

  1. Whether the petitioners qualify to be adoptive parents under the Children Act
  2. Whether the application is in the best interests of the children
  3. Whether the petitioners are suitable candidates for adoption of these children
  4. Whether exceptional circumstances exist to permit non-citizens to adopt Ugandan children
  5. Whether the requirement for one year continuous residence in Uganda should be waived

Orders

  • The petitioners Petros Koutras and Aikaterini Zisimopoulous are granted an order of adoption in respect of the children Rehema Naigaga and Angel Namusubo
  • The petitioners may travel with the children to Greece or any other country they may choose as residence in order to fulfill their obligations as adoptive parents
  • The Registrar of Births and Deaths is directed to make an entry recording this adoption order in the Adopted Children Register
  • This adoption order is to be furnished to the consular department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Kampala and at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in Kampala
  • The petitioners are directed to return and reside with both children in Uganda (preferably within Nakifuma, Mukono District or Naminya in Buikwe District) for a continuous period of not less than four months within two years immediately after the date of the adoption order
  • The petitioners shall file with the Registrar of this Court and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in Kampala, once every three years, a report on the progress of the children
  • During their stay in Uganda, the petitioners shall subject themselves to supervision of the Probation and Social Welfare Officer, Buikwe District
  • The petitioners shall meet the costs of this application

Rules and key headnotes

Adoption — International Adoption — Welfare Principle — Paramountcy
In determining any question concerning a child's upbringing under the Children Act, the welfare of the child is the paramount consideration and must be treated as the top item in any list of relevant factors, requiring the court to weigh all facts, relationships, claims, wishes of parents, risks, choices and other circumstances to determine the course most in the child's interests.
Adoption — International Adoption — Exceptional Circumstances
A non-citizen of Uganda may adopt a Ugandan child only in exceptional circumstances if they satisfy the conditions under Section 46 of the Children Act including having stayed in Uganda for at least one year and having fostered the child for at least one year under probation officer supervision, though the court has power under Section 46(4) to waive any of these requirements in exceptional circumstances.
Adoption — International Adoption — Meaning of Exceptional Circumstances
Exceptional circumstances for purposes of international adoption would be or amount to unusual, extraordinary or not typical circumstances surrounding the upbringing or commonly associated with the upbringing of a child, and must be determined dependent on the circumstances of each individual case.
Adoption — International Adoption — Residence and Fostering Requirements — Waiver
The requirement for prospective international adoptive parents to have stayed in Uganda for a one-year continuous period and fostered the child for one year is designed to ensure they acclimatize to the culture and way of life of the children so as to be well-informed and prepared to equip the children for their destined life, but may be waived where a child requires urgent life-threatening medical intervention available only abroad.
Adoption — Best Interests of the Child — Factors to Consider
In determining whether adoption is in the best interests of a child, the court must give regard to the child's ascertainable wishes and feelings considering their age and understanding, their physical emotional and educational needs, their age sex background and other relevant circumstances, any harm suffered or risk of suffering, and where relevant the capacity of parents guardians or others involved in their care to meet their needs.
Adoption — Institutionalization as Last Resort
Institutionalization of children should be the last option in the continuum of comprehensive child welfare services, which includes family preservation, kinship care, foster care and institutionalization, and children who are candidates for adoption should be placed into loving families where their upbringing, good health and education are better catered for.
Adoption — International Adoption — Cultural Preservation — Court Powers
Where a court grants an international adoption order, it has power under Section 3 of the Children Act to impose conditions in the best interests of the child including requiring adoptive parents to return and reside with the children in Uganda for a suitable period to ensure meaningful cultural engagement and prepare both parents and children for their new life in a different culture.

Legislation cited (9)

Cases cited (6)

  • Payne v Payne [2001] EWCA 166
  • B v B [1940] CH 54
  • Deborah Alitubeera (Civil Appeal No. 70 of 2011)
  • Re AM (Adoption Cause No. 12 of 2017)
  • JVC AC 668
  • In the Matter of Katumba Frances and Nakitende Aisha (Adoption Causes Nos. 16 & 17 of 2018)

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

IN RE Rehema Naigaga & Angel Namusubo (Children) by Petros Lutras & Aikaterini Zisimopoulou (Misc. Cause No.22 of 2019) [2019] UGHC 12 (8 July 2019)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.