In Re Resty Nanyanzi and Joyce Kisakye (infants) (Family Cause No. 122 of 2009)

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

Court granted guardianship to American couple of two Ugandan orphans aged 2 and 4, finding both children's parents deceased, the grandmother unable to care for them and consenting, and the applicants suitable based on employment, home study, mental and physical health, and lack of criminal record. Grant held to be in the children's best interests and welfare.

Outcome

Applicants appointed legal guardians with permission to take the children to the United States, subject to annual reporting requirements

Facts

Resty Nanyanzi (4 years 6 months) and Joyce Kisakye (2 years 7 months) lost both parents, Fred Dumba and Samalie Nantume, who are deceased. The children were initially cared for by their grandmother, Joyce Damulira, who was unable to support them and placed them in A.F.A.A Orphanage in Kabowa. Adlai Chester (30) and Amanda Chester (29), a married American couple from Muncie, Indiana, with two biological children aged 2 and 4, had been providing for the children's needs through the orphanage. The applicants are gainfully employed — the first applicant as Chief Financial Officer of Rutter Communications Network, LLC, and the second applicant as a kindergarten teacher with Cowan Community School Corporation. The grandmother consented to the guardianship application. The applicants underwent a home study in the United States and were recommended as suitable guardians.

Issues

1. Whether the grant of guardianship will be for the welfare and in the best interests of the children.
2. Whether the applicants are suitable guardians for the children.

Orders

• The applicants are appointed legal guardians of the children, Resty Nanyanzi and Joyce Kisakye, with full parental rights and responsibilities.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the Registrar of Documents, Uganda Registration Service Bureau, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kampala.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the United States Embassy in Kampala and the Ugandan Embassy in Washington.
• The applicants are directed to obtain Ugandan passports for the children and to renew them from time to time as required by the law.
• The applicants are permitted to travel out of Uganda with the children.
• The applicants are directed to register the children with the authority responsible for children in the county of Muncie, Indiana, and to file a report every one year, with the Registrar, Family Division, High Court of Uganda, Kampala, regarding the state of the welfare of the children and to do so until the children are 18 years of age or until directed otherwise.
• The court makes no order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (10)

• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 139
• Children Act Cap 59 s.2
• Children Act Cap 59 s.3
• Children Act Cap 59 First Schedule paragraph 1(b)
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.14
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.33
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.39
• Civil Procedure Act Cap 71 s.98
• Civil Procedure Rules SI 71-1 Order 52 r.1
• Civil Procedure Rules SI 71-1 Order 52 r.3

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