Uganda - Adopting a Child

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Procedure

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
HOW TO APPLY

1. The adoptive parents having already identified the child they intend to adopt from either a children home or a legally adoptive agency in Uganda
2. Will then be issued a social worker who will visit them at home or book an appointment with them to come to the officers and interview, access the capability of the adoptive parents if able to rise the child properly
3. The social worker will then write an assessment report on his/her findings and submit it to an elected government child adoptive panel
4. If approved for the adoption, you will have to legalize the process by visit any of the below government officer
   • To a chief magistrate’s court within the jurisdiction of which the applicant or the child resides where both the child and the applicant are citizens of Uganda
   • To the High Court where the child or the applicant is not a citizen of Uganda,
5. Visit the above officers with all the required documents or hire a legal law Anthony to finalize the legal process of adoption
6. The court will verify all the documents and the report issued by the adoption panel, if approved you will be issued an adoptive order which has to be registered by the Uganda National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) so that you can obtain full custody of the child.

Appeals.

1. Any person aggrieved by any decision of a chief magistrate’s court or the High Court under this Part—
   • May, in the case of a decision of a chief magistrate’s court, appeal to the High Court against the decision;
   • In the case of a decision of the High Court, appeal to the Court of Appeal and thereafter the Supreme Court against the decision.
2. For the avoidance of doubt, a person aggrieved by a decision of the High Court on an appeal from the chief magistrate’s court, may appeal against the decision to the Court of Appeal and thereafter to the Supreme Court.

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Required Documents

• 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.

Office Locations & Contacts

Uganda adoption agencies
Sanyu Babies Home in Kampala and Nsambya Hospital Babies home
Web:  Ugandns adopt
Child I Foundation
Email to adoption@childsifoundationorg
Tel: +25676110304.

Uganda Adoption Authority
The Department of Youth and Child Affairs
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development
Simbamanyo House, Plot 2 Lumumba Avenue Kampala, Uganda
Telephone: 256-413-478-545
Fax: 256-41-256-374
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:  http://www.mglsd.go.ug/

Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB)
Plot 5 George Street, Georgian House
P.O. Box 6848 Kampala, Uganda
URSB General Line: 256-414-233-219
Registrar General: 256-414-235-915
Fax: 256-414-250-712
Email: [email protected] 
Website:  URSB

Eligibility

Uganda 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 single parent may not adopt a child of the opposite sex save for exceptional circumstances.

Foreign citizen

• 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. 

• Must meet the requirements for adoption by

Fees

• The cost falls between $30,000 and $40,000, including agency, program, government, and travel fees

Validity

• Once an adoption is made legal it means that the applicant is the legal parent of the child and the child is entitled to an inheritance being family.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The average timeline for adoption is 18 to 36 months,

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

Restrictions and conditions

• An adoption order may be granted to a sole applicant or jointly to spouses where—

• The applicant or at least one of the joint applicants has attained the age of twenty-five years and is at least twenty-one years older than the child;
• In the case of an application by one of the spouses, the other has consented to the adoption.

• The court may dispense with the consent required under subsection (1)(b) if the spouse whose consent is required cannot be found or is incapable of giving consent, or the spouses are separated and living apart and the separation is likely to be permanent.
• An adoption order shall not be made in favour of a sole male applicant in respect of a female child, or in favour of a sole female applicant in respect of a male child, unless the court is satisfied that there are special circumstances that justify, as an exceptional measure, the making of an adoption order.
• The application shall not be considered unless the applicant has fostered the child for a period of not less than thirty-six months under the supervision of a probation and social welfare officer.
• The probation and social welfare officer shall be required to submit a report to assist the court in considering the application; and the court may, in addition, require some other person or the local authority to make a report in respect of the adoption application.
• Except where the application is by spouses jointly, an adoption order shall not be made authorising more than one person to adopt a child at the same time

Intercountry adoption

• A person who is not a citizen of Uganda may in exceptional circumstances adopt a Ugandan child, if he or she—

• Has stayed in Uganda for at least three years;
• Has fostered the child for at least thirty-six months under the supervision of a probation and social welfare officer;
• Does not have a criminal record;
• Has a recommendation concerning his or her suitability to adopt a child from his or her country’s probation and welfare office or other competent authority; and
• Has satisfied the court that his or her country of origin will respect and recognise the adoption order.

• For the purposes of an application to which this section applies, the probation and social welfare officer referred to in subsection shall be required to submit a report to assist the court in considering the application; and the court may, in addition, require some other person or authority to make a report in respect of the application.

Required Information

• Full names of the applicants
• Age of the applicants
• Nationality of the applicant
• Occupation of the applicants
• Criminal records of the applicants
• Names/age/gender of the child being adopted
• Names/Consent of parents/guardian if applicable

Need for the Document

• Adoption is a way of providing new families for children who cannot be brought up by their biological parents. It is a legal procedure in which all parental responsibility is transferred to the adopters

Information which might help

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.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what other uses of obtaining this document/certificate are.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

URSB
NIRA
Ugandas adoppt

Others

Functions of the court.

1. The court shall, before making an adoption order, be satisfied that—
   • Every person whose consent is required and is not dispensed with has consented and understands the nature and effects of the adoption, namely, that it will permanently deprive that person of parental rights over the adopted child;
   • The order if made will be for the welfare of the child, due consideration being given to the wishes of the child having regard to his or her age and understanding;
   • the applicant has not received or agreed to receive, and that no person has made or agreed to make to the applicant, any payment or other reward in consideration of the adoption;and
   • the applicant or any person on behalf of the applicant has not paid or agreed to pay money or anything in place of money to the parent, guardian or any person in charge of the child in consideration of the adoption of the child.
2. The court may, in an adoption order, include such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.