An Act to provide for the care, protection and maintenance of children; to provide for the National Children Authority; to establish a family and children court to make provision for children charged with offences and for related matters.

THE CHILDREN ACT

<p>The Children Act (Cap 62) is Uganda's primary law protecting the rights and welfare of every person under 18. It applies to all children, parents, guardians, foster parents, approved homes, and any person or institution dealing with children. The Act sets out parental responsibilities, bans harmful practices, governs adoption, guardianship, foster care, and provides a child-friendly justice system. It also establishes the National Children Authority to oversee child protection.</p>

<h3>Who Is a Child?</h3>
<p>A <strong>child</strong> is any person under the age of 18 years. This definition determines who benefits from the special protections under this Act, including the right to parental care, education, and protection from abuse and exploitation.</p>

<h3>Key Rights of Every Child</h3>
<ul>
<li>Right to live with parents or guardian and to express their views on matters affecting them.</li>
<li>Right to be registered at birth with a name and nationality.</li>
<li>Right to safety, privacy, basic social services, leisure, and inheritance.</li>
<li>Right to be free from discrimination, violence, abuse, neglect, and harmful customary practices.</li>
<li>Right to be protected from child labour, sexual exploitation, child sacrifice, forced marriage, trafficking, and female genital mutilation.</li>
<li>Right to access education, immunisation, adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention.</li>
<li>Right to have their welfare treated as the paramount consideration in all decisions affecting them.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Parental Responsibility and Duties</h3>
<p>Parents and guardians have the legal duty to maintain, educate, and protect their child. They must provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and immunisation. They must also protect the child from discrimination, violence, and neglect. If both parents die, responsibility can pass to relatives, a warden of an approved home, or a foster parent by court order.</p>

<h3>Ban on Harmful Practices and Child Labour</h3>
<p>No person may subject a child to any customary practice that harms their health, education, or development. The minimum age for employment is 16, and work must not be harmful. Harmful work includes physical or sexual abuse, dangerous machinery, heavy loads, slavery, trafficking, and prostitution. Violators face fines or imprisonment.</p>

<h3>Child Protection and Reporting Obligations</h3>
<ul>
<li>Any person who knows of child abuse or neglect must report it to the local council, police, or child welfare authority.</li>
<li>Professionals like doctors, teachers, and social workers are legally required to report concerns.</li>
<li>Local councils must protect children, mediate disputes, and keep a register of disabled children.</li>
<li>The National Children Authority advises the government, receives complaints, and monitors investigations into child abuse.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Care, Supervision, and Emergency Protection Orders</h3>
<p>A family and children court can place a child under supervision or care only if the child is suffering or likely to suffer serious harm. Supervision orders last up to one year, extendable once. Care orders last up to three years or until the child turns 18. In emergencies, a child can be taken into protection for up to 48 hours. The child's best interests always come first.</p>

<h3>Adoption Rules and Procedures</h3>
<ul>
<li>Applicants must be at least 25 and at least 21 years older than the child (exceptions for relatives).</li>
<li>Married couples must both consent; single men cannot adopt a female child (and vice versa) unless special circumstances exist.</li>
<li>Foreigners may adopt only in exceptional circumstances, after at least one year of residence and foster care, and as a last resort.</li>
<li>Adoption orders permanently transfer all parental rights to the adoptive parents; the child is treated as born to them.</li>
<li>Adopted children have the same inheritance rights as biological children.</li>
<li>Adoptive parents must tell the child about the adoption when they can understand, and reveal biological parents' identity at age 18 (unless harmful).</li>
<li>Consent of biological parents is required, but can be revoked before the adoption order is made. A child aged 14 or older must consent personally.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Guardianship and Custody</h3>
<p>Only Ugandan citizens can apply for legal guardianship. A guardian must be at least 18, have no criminal record, and be recommended by a social welfare officer. The court must consider the child's views if aged 12 or older. Guardianship gives full parental responsibility until the child turns 18. Custody can be awarded by the court based on the child's best interests; parents can also agree in writing.</p>

<h3>Child Maintenance and Parentage</h3>
<ul>
<li>Parents must support their children even after divorce, separation, or annulment.</li>
<li>Maintenance orders can be made during pregnancy or before the child turns 18, and can be enforced by attachment of earnings or seizure of property.</li>
<li>A child has the right to apply for a declaration of parentage to establish legal fatherhood or motherhood, which affects inheritance and maintenance.</li>
<li>Maintenance ends when the child turns 18, unless a new order is obtained.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Children in Conflict with the Law</h3>
<ul>
<li>No child under 12 can be held criminally responsible.</li>
<li>Children must be arrested with caution, released on bail unless serious danger, and never kept with adult detainees.</li>
<li>Family and children courts handle most child criminal cases; they cannot sentence a child to death or corporal punishment.</li>
<li>Detention is a last resort; maximum periods depend on age and offence (e.g., under 16: up to 3 months; 16+: up to 12 months).</li>
<li>Cases must be completed within 3 months after plea; otherwise dismissed.</li>
<li>No 'conviction' or 'sentence' wording is used; instead 'proof of an offence' and 'order'.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Penalties and Enforcement</h3>
<p>Violations of the Act can lead to fines (up to 25 currency points in some cases) or imprisonment (up to six months, or longer for specific offences like child abuse). The Minister can make regulations with penalties up to 25 currency points or two years imprisonment. Family court orders can be enforced like magistrate court orders.</p>

<p>For specific legal advice, consult a qualified lawyer or a probation and social welfare officer.</p>

A child who is accused of a crime should have their case heard in a family and children court. However, the family court cannot handle cases where the crime carries the death penalty. It also cannot handle cases where the child is charged together with an adult (someone over 18). In those situations, the case goes to a different court. This protects children by ensuring most cases are handled in a child-friendly environment.

Under the Children Act, a family court handles most child criminal cases, but not those punishable by death or where a child is charged with an adult.

Section 138: Cases a family court can handle for children

any offence for which a child is jointly charged with a person over eighteen years of age.

A family and children court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all criminal charges against a child except—

Criminal jurisdiction of family and children court

Section 138: Cases a family court can handle for children

138.Criminal jurisdiction of family and children court

Plain English Summary