IN THE MATTER OF DAVID MEYER SEMPIJA (infant) (Family Cause No. 39 of 2010)

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

Legal guardianship application granted. The court found that appointing the applicants as legal guardians was in the welfare and best interests of the one-year-old child who had been abandoned by his mother and whose father had no means to care for him. The applicants, American citizens with suitable home conditions and no criminal record, were deemed suitable guardians under the Children Act.

Outcome

Legal guardianship granted. Applicants appointed legal guardians with permission to travel out of Uganda with the child and to complete adoption proceedings in the USA.

Facts

The infant, David Meyer Sempijja, aged one year, was abandoned by his mother when approximately 15 days old. His biological father, Kawesi Edward, had no source of income to care for the child and placed him with Purpose Uganda Babies Home. The child was subsequently committed to Sanyu Babies Home on 9 February 2010 because Purpose Uganda Babies Home had not yet been approved by the Ministry of Gender. The infant was advertised in the Daily Monitor newspaper on 19 February 2010 but no one claimed him. The applicants, Seth Wayne Gilkeson and Andrea Castille Gilkeson, American citizens and a married couple, applied for legal guardianship to provide the child with a home, parental love and care. The first applicant operates a landscaping and excavation business while the second applicant is a stay-at-home mother who occasionally does part-time computer consultancy work.

Issues

1. Whether the grant of legal guardianship is for the welfare of the infant.
2. Whether the applicants are suitable guardians for the child.

Orders

• The applicants, Seth Wayne Gilkeson and Andrea Castille Gilkeson, are appointed legal guardians of the child, David Meyer Sempijja, with full parental rights and responsibilities.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the Registrar of Documents, Uganda Registration Services 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 a Ugandan passport for the child and renew it from time to time as required by law.
• The applicants are permitted to travel out of the Country with the child so as to fulfill their parental rights and obligations under Article 34(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Uganda and sections 4 and 5 of the Children Act.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the authority responsible for children and family welfare in Harrisonville, Missouri, U.S.A. and to file a report once every year with the Registrar, Family Division, High Court of Uganda at Kampala regarding the development and state of the welfare of the child, and to continue to do so until the child is 18 years of age or until directed otherwise.
• No orders as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (11)

• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 139(1)
• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 34(1)
• Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 Article 34(2)
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.14
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.33
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.39
• 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 First Schedule paragraph 3(1)(b)

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