Re In The Matter Of Muwanguzi Tom Isaiah (Family Cause No.138 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

Application by American citizens to be appointed legal guardians of a three-year-old abandoned infant granted. The court held that the welfare of the child is paramount and that the applicants, a married couple with four children and stable employment, were suitable guardians. The infant had been abandoned, committed to Sanyu Babies Home, and advertised without anyone claiming him. The guardianship order permits the child to travel to the USA with ongoing reporting requirements to the Ugandan courts.

Outcome

Applicants appointed legal guardians of the infant with permission to travel to USA subject to ongoing reporting requirements

Facts

On 8 May 2008, a three-year-old infant, Muwanguzi Tom Isaiah, was found abandoned at Namaasa village along the Kampala-Gulu Road in Nakasongola District by Naziwa Aida and Joseph Okaba. On 12 May 2008, the Officer in Charge of the Child and Family Protection Unit, Nakasongola Police Station, referred the matter to the Community Development Officer. On 22 May 2008, the child was committed to Sanyu Babies Home. The infant's photograph was advertised in the New Vision newspaper on 17 September 2009, but no one came forward to claim him. The applicants, Vaughan Justin Matthew and Shauna Nicole Vaughan, American citizens and a married couple with four children, applied to be appointed legal guardians of the infant. The first applicant is employed as a lineman by Pacific Power, and the second applicant is a full-time homemaker. The applicants underwent a home study and were recommended as suitable guardians.

Issues

1. Whether the grant of guardianship will be for the welfare of the child.
2. Whether the applicants are suitable guardians for the child.

Orders

• The applicants are appointed legal guardians of Muwanguzi Tom Isaiah 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 Uganda with the child.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the authority responsible for children and family welfare in Grenada, California, USA and to file a report once every year with the Registrar, Family Division, High Court, Kampala, regarding the development and the state of the welfare of the child and continue to do so until the child is 18 years of age, or until directed otherwise.
• No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (7)

• Constitution of Uganda 1995 Article 139(1)
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.14
• Judicature Act Cap 13 s.33
• Children Act Cap 59 s.2
• Children Act Cap 59 s.3
• Children Act Cap 59 First Schedule paragraph 1(b)
• Civil Procedure Act s.98

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