Sole male applicants in the country could soon be allowed to adopt children if a proposed Bill that seeks to amend the adoption process is passed into law.
The Bill sponsored by the National Assembly leader of the majority party Kimani Ichung’wa, also seeks to cap adoption of children to parents and guardians between the ages of 25 and 65 years.
The proposal by the Kikuyu MP, which has since been introduced in the House, is part of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2023.
It seeks to among other things, cap a 21-year age difference between the applicant(s) and the person being adopted.
However, this restriction, the proposed law argues, will only be applicable in cases where a sole applicant or one of the joint applicants is not the mother, father or relative of a child.
The MP argued that in cases where the applicant is a relative of the child, then the restriction will be waived.
Notably, the Bill is also proposing the deletion of Section 186(4) of the Children’s Act of 2022, that denies sole male applicants the chance of adopting children.
According to the Act, courts are presently restricted from making an adoption order in favour of a sole male applicant, unless the applicant is a blood relative of the child.
But Ichung’wa argues that the restrictions are discriminatory, arguing that the proposed amendment in the Bill is to give all would-be parents an equal chance to adopt children as determined by the law.
“The Bill proposes to amend the Children’s’ Act of 2022 to remove the provisions which prohibit the courts from granting adoption orders to a sole male applicant,” says the MP.
Ichung’wa therefore argues that if passed into law, the proposed law will allow sole applicants of either gender or two spouses jointly to adopt.
However, there shall be an exception if any of the applicants is of unsound mind within the meaning of the Mental Health Act Cap 248, is incapable of taking proper guardianship of the child or has been convicted by a Court of competent jurisdiction for any of the offences specified in the Third Schedule.
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