Re In The Matter Of Faith Komugisha (an infant) (Family Cause No. 244 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

The High Court granted the application appointing two American citizens as legal guardians of a four-month-old infant whose mother was mentally ill and had abandoned her, and whose presumed father denied paternity. The court found the applicants suitable and that it was in the child's best interests to be placed in their care and to immigrate with them to the USA, subject to six-monthly reporting requirements.

Outcome

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

Facts

Faith Komugisha, a four-month-old infant, was born on 19 July 2010. Her presumed father denied paternity and her mother, who was mentally ill, abandoned her at three weeks of age with the paternal grandmother. The grandmother could not provide for the child's basic needs and with help from local councilors had the child admitted to Good Shepherd Fold on 10 August 2010. A Care Order was obtained on 17 November 2010 formally committing the child to the care of the home. The applicants, married American citizens with two adopted children, learned of the child's situation through Good Shepherd Fold. The applicants were employed (one as a teacher, the other a stay-at-home parent) with an annual income of $50,304, adequate health insurance, no criminal record, and were recommended as suitable adoptive parents by a home study report. The paternal grandmother consented to the application and the probation officer of Mukono district recommended it as being in the child's best interests.

Issues

1. Whether the applicants should be appointed legal guardians of the infant Faith Komugisha.
2. Whether the applicants should be permitted to immigrate with the infant to the United States of America.

Orders

• Application granted.
• Eric Jeffrey Dirks and Emily Louise Engelbert Dirks appointed legal guardians of Faith Komugisha.
• Appointed legal guardians permitted to immigrate with the child to the United States of America.
• Applicants 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.
• Applicants to pay costs of the 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 3

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