Re In The Matter Of Nassuna Agnes (an infant) (Family Cause No. 199 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 foreign applicants as legal guardians of a one-year-old orphan. The court found the application was in the child's best interests where the maternal grandmother and relatives were unable to provide for the child, the applicants were suitable based on financial stability and home study approval, and appropriate safeguards including annual reporting requirements were imposed.

Outcome

Applicants appointed as legal guardians with permission to travel with child to the United States and subsequently adopt

Facts

Nassuna Suzan Agnes was born on 1 December 2008. Her mother, Nakiggya Teddy, died on 24 October 2009, and the father was unknown. After the mother's death, the maternal grandmother Nassanga Teopista, a peasant with no reliable income, took responsibility for the child. She later handed the child to Kato Lwanga Godfrey, a cousin and taxi driver, but both were unable to adequately care for the child. The applicants, American citizens Kathryn Duffy (29) and Marty Duffy (28), were married with two children. The first applicant was employed as Director of Professional Services Operations, and the second was a full-time homemaker. They had previously been granted guardianship of another Ugandan child in September 2009. The applicants learned of the infant's plight from Kato Lwanga and sought guardianship. The maternal grandmother, cousin, and local authorities consented to the application. A home study approved their home for adoptive purposes, and they had no criminal record or child abuse convictions.

Issues

1. Whether the grant of guardianship will be for the welfare and best interests of the child, Nassuna Suzan Agnes?
2. Whether the applicants are suitable guardians for the child?

Orders

• Kathryn Duffy and Marty Duffy are appointed legal guardians of the child Nassuna Suzan Agnes.
• 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 to renew it from time to time as required by law.
• The applicants are permitted to travel out of Uganda with the child in order to discharge their parental duties and obligations.
• The applicants are permitted to adopt the child in the U.S.A.
• The applicants are directed to register the order with the authority responsible for family and child welfare in Washington, and file a report once every year to the Registrar Family Division, High Court, Kampala, regarding the state of the welfare and development of the child until the child is 18 years of age or until directed otherwise.
• No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (9)

• Constitution of Uganda 1995 Article 139(1)
• Judicature Act s.14
• Judicature Act s.33
• Judicature Act 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 s.6

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