The Law and Practice Relating to the Adoption of Children in Tanzania

Abstract

The law relating to the adoption of children in Tanzania has, since its inception, remained obscure. It has neither received judicial interpretation comparable to other branches of family law nor has it been a subject of academic discourse. This is so despite the fact that the first adoption legislation was introduced in colonial Tanganyika as early as 1942, was repealed and re-enacted in 1953 and has remained in force ever since.Some statistical information regarding how this legislation has been utilised by the population would assist in further elaboration of the above contention. During the first 18 years of the operation of the Ordinance, i.e. from 1944 to the end of the British colonial era in 1961, the High Court of Tanganyika, which under the Ordinance had exclusive jurisdiction to hear adoption applications, made a total of 130 adoption orders. This works out to an average of seven adoption orders per year. With regard to the cultural background of the applicants, so far as this could be ascertained, Europeans formed the majority accounting for about two thirds while members of the Asiatic communities accounted for about one third of the total number of adoption orders granted by the High Court. The number of African applicants was comparatively insignificant.After independence, the picture changed considerably, both in terms of volume of adoption applications and the cultural background of the leading applicants.