Section 2 of The Children Act CAP 141: Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
"abandoned" in relation to a child, means a child—
(a) who has been deserted by the parent, guardian or caregiver; or
(b) whose parent, guardian or care giver has wilfully failed to make contact with the child for a period of more than six months;
"actual custody" means the physical possession, care and control over a child, whether or not such custody is exercised independently or jointly with another person;
"adoption" means the process through which a child is permanently placed with a legal parent or parents in accordance with Part XIV;
"adoption order" means an adoption order made under section 183 vesting the parental rights and responsibilities relating to a child in the adopter;
"adopter" means a person in whose favour an adoption order is made;
"aftercare" means the services offered to children who leave alternative care as they transit to independent living;
"age" means the actual chronological age of the child from conception or the child’s apparent age as determined by a Medical Officer in any case where the actual age of the child is unascertainable;
"alternative care" means the arrangement whereby a child is looked after outside the parental home under the provisions of this Act;
"authorised officer" includes a police officer, a chief, a children’s officer, a probation officer, prison officer, a registered medical practitioner, a labour officer, a teacher, or any other officer authorized by the Secretary or under any other written law for the purposes of this Act;
"basic education" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Basic Education Act (Cap. 211);
"best interest of the child" means the principles that prime the child’s right to survival, protection, participation and development above other considerations and includes the rights contemplated under Article 53(1) of the Constitution and section 8 of this Act;
"borstal institution" means a borstal institution established under section 3 of the Borstal Institutions Act (Cap. 92);
"Cabinet Secretary" means the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for matters relating to children’s affairs;
"care and control" with respect to a child, means all rights and duties which relate to the making of the day-to- day decisions concerning the child, and includes actual custody of a child;
"Chief Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Council appointed under section 48;
"child" means an individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years;
"child abuse" includes—
(a) the infliction of physical harm by any person on a child;
(b) the infliction or inducement of physical harm by any person on a child by acts intended to cause harm or negligent acts or omissions that cause harm;
(c) the failure by any person to protect a child from physical harm or to report a case of child abuse;
(d) act or omissions that affects a child’s healthy social and emotional development and functioning including—
(i) rejection;
(ii) isolation, including depriving the child of normal social interaction with others;
(iii) deprivation of affection or cognitive stimulation; or
(iv) inappropriate criticism or comparison with other children, discrimination, humiliation, threats, or malicious accusations, directed at a child;
(e) the exposure of a child to emotionally, traumatic and age inappropriate content, information and photos of any kind;
(f) engaging a child in child sex tourism and child trafficking;
(g) the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement or coercion of a child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct;
(h) the use or exposure of a child in, electronic or online, platforms for purposes of prostitution, pornography or any other unlawful sexual practice;
(i) the use of a child’s images for purposes of pornography or sexual gratification;
(j) dissemination to a child of any material, information, education or health services that promotes, induces, condones, or normalizes sexual activity or behaviour among children or with children; or
(k) any other similar acts calculated to cause physical, emotional, economic or psychological injury to the child;
"childcare facility" means a child care facility established by a county government pursuant to paragraph 9 of Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution and such other facility as the Cabinet Secretary may, in consultation with a county government, approve or license as a childcare facility;
‘Children’s Court’ means a Court designated as a Children Court under Part VIII;
"charitable children’s institution" means a children’s home or institution established by any person, either alone or in association with others, or by a civil society organisation and which has been duly registered with the Council for the purpose of managing programmes for the care, protection, rehabilitation and reintegration or control of children;
"Children’s institutions" means institutions established under Part VII;
"child in conflict with the law" means a person who is above the age of twelve years, but below the age of eighteen years, who has been dealt with or punished in accordance with Part XV of this Act or any other written law for contravention of the law;
"child labour" means work done by a child which—
(a) is exploitative, hazardous or otherwise inappropriate for a person of that age; and
(b) places at risk the child's well-being, education, physical or mental health, or spiritual, moral, emotional or social development;
"child marriage" means marriage or cohabitation with a child or any arrangement made for such marriage or cohabitation;
"child protection unit" means a facility located at designated police stations and established to provide, on a temporary basis, a safe and non-threatening environment for children;
"children rescue centre" includes any institution established by the Cabinet Secretary under this Act that is suitable for temporary care of children in need of care and protection, but does not include a remand home or police station.
"children’s remand home" means a place of safety where children in conflict with the law may be committed under an order of the Court until their matters are finalized;
"child trafficking" means the recruitment, transporting, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation by means of—
(a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion;
(b) abduction;
(c) fraud;
(d) deception;
(e) abuse of power or of position of vulnerability;
(f) giving payment or benefit to achieve the consent of the victim; or
(g) giving or receiving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over the child:
Provided that the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered as "child trafficking" even if it does not involve any of the means set out in paragraphs (a) to (g);
"child welfare programme" means a child welfare programme approved by the Council in accordance with Regulations made under this Act;
"competent authority" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Persons Deprived of Liberty Act (Cap. 90A);
"corporal punishment" means the use of physical force applied on a child by the use of any means, including a cane or other object, with the intention of inflicting pain or discomfort for the purpose of corrective discipline or punishment;
"Council" means the National Council for Children’s Services established under section 41;
"County Children Advisory Committee" means the Advisory Committee established under section 54;
"County Executive Committee Member" means the County Executive
Committee Member for the time being responsible for matters relating to children;
"County Government entity" includes sub-county, ward, village, city or urban area within a county;
"Court" means the Children’s Court designated under section 90 of this Act;
"custody" means lawful custody, whether by operation of law, written agreement or order of a Court of competent jurisdiction;
"disability" has the meaning assigned to it under Article 260 of the Constitution;
"detention" includes means confinement of a child in conflict with the law in a police cell, place of safety, rehabilitation school, child protection unit, child rescue center, children remand home or other residential facility in which the child is deprived of liberty;
"differential treatment" is preferential treatment accorded to a child who is vulnerable or who is in a precarious social-economic situation and includes affirmative action measures to protect the rights of the child;
"diversion" means the intervention and programmes designed to divert children from the criminal justice system with the aim of—
(a) reducing stigmatization of children in conflict with the law;
(b) identifying children at risk and connecting them with appropriate support services in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of the children engaging in antisocial behaviour; and
(c) providing programmes and support to children who have engaged in offending conduct, prevent them progressing further into the system; and
(d) reducing recidivism by children in conflict with the law;
"domestic servitude" means the exploitation of labour for domestic purposes; "education" means the giving of intellectual, moral, spiritual instruction or other training to a child;
"economic exploitation" means unfairly taking advantage of another person because of their vulnerability, by grossly underpaying them for their work in comparison to average market rates payable for similar work;
"existing Charitable Children’s Institution" means a charitable children institution registered, approved or licensed by the Council prior to the commencement of this Act;
"family time order" means an order requiring a child to spend a specified number of hours with their family;
"family group conference" means a meeting convened for purposes of section 232;
"female genital mutilation" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (Cap. 62B);
"fit person" means a person in respect of whom it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court to be of high moral character and integrity, and who is capable of exercising proper care and guardianship of a child;
"forced male circumcision" comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the male genitalia or other injury to the male genital organs, or any harmful procedure to the male genitalia, for non-medical reasons, that is performed with or without any undue influence, inducement, enticement, coercion, or intimidation on a male child—
(a) without consent of the child’s parents or guardian;
(b) belonging to a community that does not practice male circumcision and without the consent of the child's parents or guardian;
(c) with the intention to cause grievous harm or injury to a child;
(d) in a manner that infringes on a child’s right to privacy or subjects a child to ridicule, embarrassment, humiliation or otherwise harms a child;
but does not include a sexual reassignment procedure or a medical procedure
that has a genuine therapeutic purpose;
"foster care placement" means temporary placement of a child or children in the care of a person who is not the parent, relative or guardian of the child;
"foster parent" means a person with whom a child is placed in accordance with section 174;
"grooming" means establishing a relationship of trust or emotional connection with a child, either personally or through electronic means, with the aim to manipulate the child or adult care giver and which relationship may facilitate sexual contact or other child abuse that promotes, induces or normalizes sexual activity or behaviour among or with children;
"guardian" means an individual who is appointed under Part X, to exercise care and control of a child;
"guardian ad litem" means an adult appointed by the court to represent the best interests of the child;
"home", in relation to a child, means the place where the child’s parent, guardian, relative or foster parent permanently resides or, if there is no parent, guardian or relative living, and the child has no foster parent, the child’s parent’s or guardian’s or relative’s last permanent residence;
Provided that—
(a) in the case of a parent, guardian or relative having or having had more than one permanent place of residence, the parent, guardian or relative shall be presumed to be or to have been permanently resident at the place of such person’s principal permanent residence; and
(b) where the Court is unable to determine the home of any such child, the child shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have his home in the local jurisdiction of the area he or she is found;
"Inspector General" means the Inspector General of Police appointed under Article 245(2)(a) of the Constitution;
"intersex child" means a child with a congenital condition in which the biological sex characteristics cannot be exclusively categorised in the common binary of female or male due to inherent and mixed anatomical, hormonal, gonadal or chromosomal patterns, which could be apparent prior to, at birth, in childhood, puberty or adulthood;
"kafaalah" means the taking in of a child who is deprived of parental and family care and protection by a person professing the Islamic faith who is capable of looking after a child in accordance with this Act;
"kinship adoption" means the adoption of a child by a person who is a relative of the child;
"legal aid" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Legal Aid Act (Cap. 16A);
"legal custody" means the conferment, to a person, of parental rights and responsibilities of a person having lawful custody over a child for a defined period of time under an order of a Court of competent jurisdiction;
"maintenance order" means an order issued by a court directing a specified person to make such periodic or lump sum payment for the maintenance of the child on such terms as the Court may consider appropriate;
"medical practitioner" has the meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the
Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act (Cap. 253);
"Ministry" means the Ministry responsible for matters relating to children;
"nursery" means any institution or place at which for the time being, five or more children under the age of seven years are received and cared for regularly at a fee;
"obscene material" includes any book, magazine, film, video or audio tape or print or electronic or social media or other medium which is of a kind targeted at or is likely to fall into the hands of children and which consists wholly or mainly of stories in pictures with or without addition of written matter or video films and cassette tapes which contains pictures or stories which portray harmful morally repugnant or sexually explicit information, such as—
(a) the commission of crime;
(b) acts of violence; or
(c) incidents of repulsive or indecent representation or immoral characters;
"orphan" means a child who has lost one or both of his or her parents in death;
"parent" means the mother or father or any person who is conferred parental rights by law;
"place of safety" includes any institution, school, feeding centre, hospital or other place that is suitable for temporary care of children, but does not include a children’s remand home, rehabilitation school, police station or child protection unit;
"Principal Registrar" has the meaning assigned to it under the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Cap. 149);
"private sector" means the non-public sector of the economy;
"psychological abuse" means the regular and deliberate use of a range of words and non-physical actions used with the purpose to manipulate, hurt, weaken or frighten a person mentally and emotionally; and/or distort, confuse or influence a person’s thoughts and actions within their everyday lives, changing their sense of self and harming their wellbeing;
"Public Benefit Organizations" has the meaning assigned to it under section 5 of the Public Benefits Organisations Act (No. 18 of 2013);
"radicalization" means a process by which a person comes to adopt extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that are aimed at inciting the person to violence or into any behavior and belief that is harmful to the child;
"rehabilitation institution" means any institution which provides the reception, maintenance, training and rehabilitation of children pursuant to an order of a Court;
"rehabilitation school" means a rehabilitation school established under section 78;
"relative" means—
(a) in relation to a child, any person related to the child, whether of the full blood, half blood or by affinity and, where an adoption order has been made in respect of the child or any other person under this Act, any person who would be a relative of the child within the meaning of this definition if the adopted person was the child of the adopter born inside marriage; and
(b) for the purpose of adoption, a mother, father, brother or half brother, sister or half-sister, maternal or paternal uncle or aunt or grandparent or step-parent of a child;
"reporting order" means an order requiring a child to report to a specified person at a time specified in such order so as to enable such person to monitor the child’s behaviour;
"residence order" is an order of the Court made with respect to a child’s living arrangements if the arrangements regulated by the order consist of, or include, arrangements which relate to either or more of the following—
(a) with whom the child is to live;
(b) when the child is to live with any person; and
(c) where the child is to live;
"resident" means a person who resides in Kenya;
"residential facility" means any residential facility established and designated to receive sentenced children;
"restorative justice" means an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as involving the community;
"Secretary" means the Secretary of Children's Services appointed under section 37;
"spouse" means—
(a) husband or a wife; or
(b) in relation to a wife of a polygamous marriage, the wife applying for an adoption order either as the sole applicant or jointly with the husband, or the wife into whose care a husband applying for an adoption order proposes to give the child;
"state" has the meaning assigned to it under Article 260 of the Constitution;
"step parent" means a parent married to a child’s biological mother or father;
"supervision and guidance order" means an order placing a child under the supervision and guidance of a mentor or peer in order to monitor and guide the child's behavior;
"symbolic restitution" means the giving of an object owned, made or bought by a child, or the giving of service by the child to a person, a group of persons or an institution, as symbolic compensation for the harm caused by an offending child;
"torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act which the person or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing the person or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity; and
"vulnerable child" means a child whose safety, wellbeing or development is threatened, infringed or violated, and includes a child who is emotionally deprived or traumatized.
"welfare report" means a document prepared by a Children Officer to help a Court reach a decision about the upbringing of a child.