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Adoption is a legal process whereby a person permanently assumes the parental rights and responsibilities for a child from his or her biological parents. Legal guardianship is a legal process whereby a person is appointed by court to take care of a child. The guardian has the parental rights and responsibilities but such rights and responsibilities the guardian has over the child are not permanent.Adoption and legal guardianship in Uganda is governed by: The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995, The Childrens Act, the Judicature Act and the Civil Procedure Act.
Who can adopt?
1. Citizens
- Any person of 25 years of age and above can adopt. However, the prospective adoptive parent must be at least 21 years older than the child.
- A couple must adopt jointly.
- The prospective adoptive parents must be of good physical and mental health as determined by a medical examination.
- Prospective adoptive parent must have fostered the child for at least 36 months under the super vision of probation officer save for exceptional cases.
- A singleTop of FormBottom of Form parent may not adopt a child of the opposite sex save for exceptional circumstances.
2. Foreign Adoption
Prospective adoptive parents must have fostered the child for at least 36 months while in Uganda under supervision of a Probation Officer save for exceptional circumstances.
A foreign adoptive parents must;
Have no criminal record, have been approved by their country of nationality to adopt, proof that their country of origin will respect and recognize the Ugandan adoption Order and must meet the requirements for adoption by citizens above.
3. Duration of the Adoption Process
The duration depends on whether the adoptive parents have already identified the child they intend to adopt.
- The process of getting the child to adopt depends on the availability of the child. My concern is from the time you have identified the child.
- Once you have the requisite documents from your home country, the process takes an average of three months from the time of filing the adoption petition in court.
- Prospective adoptive parents should be patient as the time fame may differ depending on the judge assigned the file.
Travelling to Uganda. - The prospective adoptive parent should in the first instance do sufficient research in their home country to ensure that once the adoption order is made, his or her home country will respect the order.
- A document to the effect that the home country will respect the order must be availed to court. It is an undertaking that immigrant visa will be issued to the child once the adoption order is availed before the embassy.
- For the prospective adoptive parents from USA, the couple can make an advance petition for orphan adoption.
4. Fees Payable
- A prospective adoptive parent is not supposed to pay any fees to the orphanage where he or she intends to get the child as this may amount to buying a child.
- Neither is the prospective adoption parent supposed to pay any fees to the guardian of the child who is the subject of adoption.
- Any attempts at this will prejudice your adoption petition and future prospects of other applicants.
- The court adoption process:
Prospective adoption parents files a petition to court through an attorney.
The prospective adoptive parents are required to appear in court on the hearing date together with the child and his or her guardian.
In some instances, the Probation Officer and Local Council Authority representative may be required to appear in court or prepare a report and submit to court before the hearing date.
In some cases, a social worker attached to the orphanage may be required to attend court if the child was in an orphanage.
It is always better and time saving to require all people who may be required to attend court to appear with you in court on the hearing date.
5. Necessary Consents
A child whose parents are; known, alive, of sound mind and can be found must consent to the adoption of the child. In other words, the parents must consent to the adoption of their child.
Children of 14 years and above must also consent to the adoption. In some cases even when the child is below 14 years of age and understands what is going on, the judge may get the views of the child.
Either the child or the parents may withdraw their consent to adoption prior to adoption order being made.
In some cases, the child or his / her parents may challenge the adoption if their consent was not obtained legally.
6. What Happens after Obtaining Adoption Order
The Adoption Order must be registered with the office of Registrar General.
The judge will usually order that the Adoption Order be registered with the Embassy of Uganda in the country of the adoptive parents.
The Order must also be registered with the Probation office and National Council for Children.
7. Legal Guardianship and Adoption outside Uganda
In instances where the prospective adoption parents don’t meet certain requirements for adoption of the child, they may instead apply to court for legal guardianship.
The Legal guardians will then be at liberty to apply for adoption of the child in their Home country provided that the judge does not restrict such petition.
The Legal Guardianship Order must authorize the legal guardians to apply for adoption while in their home country.
The necessary consent for adoption in the Home country of the prospective adoptive parents must be obtained from the child and her parents in Uganda.
The adoptive parent must file annual or bi-annual reports with the Registrar of family division in Uganda about the welfare of the child.
8. Requisite Documents in Support of Adoption or Legal Guardianship
- Birth certificate of the child.
- Death certificate of the parents of the infant, if she is an orphan.
- Photocopies of the passport of Prospective adoptive parents.
- Marriage certificate of adoptive parents;
- Recommendation letters by the employers of the prospective adoptive parents.
- Criminal clearance from the home country of prospective adoptive parents.
- Home study from the Adoption agency in the home country of prospective adoptive parents.
- License of the adoption agency that prepared the Home study report.
- Photocopies of the academic qualifications of the prospective adoptive parents.
- Photocopies of certificate of title of land owned by the prospective adoptive parents.
- Bank statements or other means of proving that the prospective adoptive parents are financially sound.
- Medical report in proof that the prospective adoptive parents are in good health.
Medical report for the child. - Proof that the Home country will respect the Adoption/ Legal guardianship Order.
- A report of Probation and Social Welfare Officer.