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March 24, 1972
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
JUDGMENT OF OSEI-HWERE J.
This is an application for the adoption of F. R. an infant aged three years. The applicant is the natural father of the infant and he brings this application alone. The facts disclose that the applicant is employed by the Mim Timber Company as their production manager on a very attractive salary. In August 1968, he married under our customary law Miss Felicia Dwira, and on 10 March 1969, they had an issue, the subject of this application. In July 1971, the marriage broke down and Miss Dwira had to leave the matrimonial home. The marriage was subsequently dissolved.
In September 1971, the applicant got married to one Miss Helena Grace Hagan who now lives with him at Mim. The infant has been living with the applicant since July 1971. The applicant who is an expatriate (and not a citizen of Ghana) brings this application to adopt the infant to enable him to bring her up in a deserving manner. Even though the mother has withheld her consent the applicant prays the court to dispense with her consent as it is being withheld unreasonably. The applicant gives as some of his reasons in inviting the court to dispense with the mother's consent the fact that the mother is not in any gainful employment and that the environment of her living condition will not be conducive to the proper upbringing of the infant who has, since her birth, been accustomed to living in a bungalow and being fed on European diet. The mother, not unnaturally, opposes the application and maintains that her consent has not been unreasonably withheld. It has been urged on her behalf that she is now trading with her mother and that with her family background she will be capable to bring up the child in a fitting manner.
Counsel for the applicant referred the court to section 7 of the Adoption Act, 1962 (Act 104), and submitted that it is mandatory on the court to postpone the determination of the application and make an interim order for a period of six months in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of Act 104. Counsel, therefore, invited the court to make an order giving the custody of the infant to the applicant for a period of six months. I do not think that section 7 of Act 104 imposes any mandatory obligation on the court to make an interim order in all cases merely because the applicant is not a citizen of Ghana. Section 6 of Act 104 under which section 7 draws its strength is itself discretionary. It seems to me, therefore, that it is only when the court
AI Generated Summary
The High Court, per Osei-Hwere J., considered a sole application by the natural father to adopt his three-year-old daughter, F.R. The father, an expatriate production manager at Mim Timber Company, had married Felicia Dwira under customary law in August 1968; their child was born on 10 March 1969. After the marriage broke down in July 1971 and was dissolved, he remarried Helena Grace Hagan and the child lived with him. He sought adoption to secure her upbringing, asserting that the mother lacked means and the child had become accustomed to a particular living environment. Felicia Dwira opposed and withheld consent. The father urged the court to dispense with consent as unreasonably withheld, and to order six months interim custody under sections 67 of the Adoption Act, 1962 (Act 104). Applying Act 104 and English authorities, the court held the test for unreasonable withholding turns on the dissenting parents attitude, not welfare, and that withholding is unreasonable only in exceptional cases. The court also found no special circumstances under section 2(2) to permit a male sole applicant to adopt a female juvenile. The application was refused.