Wakilii

In the matter for a Petition for An Adoption by Mbasan and Lynn (Adoption Cause 44 of 2023)

High Court · [2023] UGHCFD 168 · 2023 Petition Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Petition for inter-country adoption under the Children (Amendment) Act 2016
Decision
Adoption order granted; petitioners appointed adoptive parents with exclusive parental rights and responsibilities

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 High Court granted an inter-country adoption order in favour of a married couple (one Ugandan permanent resident of the USA and one US citizen) to adopt a 15-year-old Ugandan child who had been abandoned by his biological mother and fostered by the petitioners since 2015. The court held that the petitioners satisfied all statutory requirements under the Children Act including age, marriage, fostering period, criminal clearance, home study approval, and consent. The court further held that the adoption was in the child's best interest, applying the welfare principle as paramount, and considering the child's ascertainable wishes, his need for parental care, and the petitioners' financial and emotional capacity to provide a stable home.

Outcome

Adoption order granted; petitioners appointed adoptive parents with exclusive parental rights and responsibilities

Facts

Brian Mbasan, a 15-year-old Ugandan male, was abandoned by his biological mother at his grandmother's home when he was six months old. His biological mother never returned and all efforts to trace her, including newspaper advertisements and a missing person's report, were unsuccessful. The child's biological father was unable to care for him. The petitioners, Robert Matthan Mbasan (the child's paternal uncle and a Ugandan citizen who is a permanent resident of the USA) and Erica Lynn Mbasan (a US citizen), married in Uganda in 2015 and have fostered the child since then, providing for his education and basic needs. The petitioners have three biological children and a combined annual income of USD 200,000. They underwent home study assessment in the USA, attended adoption training and counseling, and obtained approval from the Alternative Care Panel in Uganda on 28 July 2023. The child's biological father and paternal grandmother consented to the adoption. The child, being of sufficient age and understanding, also consented to the adoption.

Issues

  1. Whether the Petitioners qualify to be appointed the adoptive parents of the child?
  2. Whether the petition is in the best interest of the child?

Orders

  • The Petitioners Robert Matthan Mbasan and Erica Lyn Mbasan are hereby appointed the adoptive parents of the child Brian Mbasan.
  • The parental rights of all others in respect to the child Brian Mbasan not previously terminated, are hereby terminated.
  • The Petitioners Robert Matthan Mbasan and Erica Lyn Mbasan shall have exclusive care, custody and control of the child, Brian Mbasan free from claims or hindrances of all others, and shall be held responsible for his maintenance, education and support.
  • The Registrar General of Births and Deaths is hereby directed to make an entry recording this adoption in the Adopted Children Register.
  • This Adoption Order shall be furnished to Consular Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Costs of this petition shall be met by the Petitioners.

Rules and key headnotes

Family Law — Adoption — Inter-country Adoption — Statutory Requirements
For an inter-country adoption under the Children Act, where either the child or the applicant is not a citizen of Uganda, the application must be made to the High Court of Uganda, and the non-citizen applicant must satisfy exceptional circumstances including having stayed in Uganda for at least one year, having fostered the child for at least one year under supervision of a Probation and Social Welfare Officer, having no criminal record, having a recommendation from their country's competent authority, and satisfying the court that their country of origin will respect and recognize the adoption order.
Family Law — Adoption — Best Interest of the Child — Welfare Principle
In adoption proceedings, the welfare of the child is of paramount consideration and must be considered in the widest sense, including the child's moral, religious, physical, and emotional wellbeing, ties of affection, and all circumstances affecting the child's upbringing, and the court must act as a wise parent would act on behalf of the child.
Family Law — Adoption — Child's Consent — Ascertainable Wishes
The ascertainable wishes of a child are a weighty factor in determining whether an adoption order should be made, and where the child is of sufficient age and understanding to state their wishes clearly, due consideration must be given to the child's consent to the adoption.
Family Law — Adoption — Inter-country Adoption — Last Resort Principle
Inter-country adoption shall be the last option available to orphaned, abandoned or legally relinquished children, along a continuum of comprehensive child welfare services, and the court must be satisfied that domestic care options have been exhausted before granting an inter-country adoption order.
Family Law — Adoption — Consent — Dispensation with Parental Consent
While the consent of the biological parents is necessary for an adoption order to be made, the court is empowered to dispense with the consent of a parent who is incapable of giving it, including where the parent cannot be found despite reasonable efforts to trace them.

Legislation cited (15)

Cases cited (4)

  • Ayat Joy v Genevive Chenekan Obonyo & Another (Adoption Cause No. 052 of 2002)
  • Re Mcgrath (infants) 1893 Ch 143 at 148
  • Nakaggwa v Kigundu (1978) HCB 310
  • Re D (Minors) (1981) F.L,R 102

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

In the matter for a Petition for An Adoption by Mbasan and Lynn (Adoption Cause 44 of 2023) [2023] UGHCFD 168 (22 September 2023)
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.