In the matter of an Application to be appointed Legal Guardian by Craig Michael Latorre & Tonya Louise Hollandsworth Latorre (Family Cause 230 of 2010

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court granted an application for legal guardianship of an abandoned infant to American citizens found suitable by probation and welfare officers. The court held that it was in the child's best interest to appoint the applicants as legal guardians with permission to immigrate with the child to the USA, subject to six-monthly reporting requirements until the child reaches 18 years.

Outcome

Legal guardianship granted with permission to immigrate; ongoing reporting obligations imposed

Facts

An approximately eight-month-old infant, Cherish Kirabo, was found abandoned along Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road on 25 February 2010. The matter was reported to LC1 officials and then to Wandegeya Police Station Family and Child Protection Unit on 26 February 2010. The child was referred to the probation officer and admitted to Loving Hearts Babies Home, which obtained a Care Order on 1 March 2010. An advertisement seeking the child's parents or relatives was placed in the Daily Monitor on 12 March 2010, but no one came forward. The applicants, Craig Michael Latorre and Tonya Louise Hollandsworth Latorre, are married American citizens with four biological children. Craig is a General Manager earning $415,000 annually; Tonya is a stay-at-home mother. They were informed about the child by a social worker and sought to become her legal guardians. Both applicants passed criminal background checks, medical examinations, and a home study assessment, which recommended them as suitable adoptive parents. The probation officer of Makindye Division highly recommended the applicants.

Issues

1. Whether the applicants should be appointed legal guardians of the abandoned infant Cherish Kirabo.
2. Whether the applicants should be permitted to immigrate with the child to the United States of America.

Orders

• The application by Craig Michael LaTorre and Tonya Louise Hollandsworth LaTorre to be appointed legal guardians of Cherish Kirabo is granted.
• The appointed legal guardians are permitted to immigrate with the child to the United States of America in order to fulfill their obligations as legal guardians.
• The applicants are ordered to submit a report on the state and welfare of the child to the Registrar Family Division of the High Court of Uganda at Kampala every six months until the child is 18 years old or until directed otherwise.
• The applicants will pay the costs of this application.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (9)

• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 139(1)
• Judicature Act Cap. 13 s.14
• Children Act Cap. 59 s.2
• Children Act Cap. 59 s.3
• Children Act Cap. 59 s.4
• Children Act Cap. 59 s.5
• Children Act Cap. 59 s.6
• Civil Procedure Rules SI 71-1 Order 52 Rule 1
• Civil Procedure Rules SI 71-1 Order 52 Rule 2

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