CHILDREN’S PROTECTION AND ADOPTION ACT (as amended at 01 December 2002) (i) where the applicant and the minor are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, the court may, if it thinks fit, make the order notwithstanding that the applicant is less than twenty-one years older than the minor; (ii) a husband and his wife jointly may adopt any minor born of one of the spouses even though one of them is or both of them are under the age of twenty-five years, or even though one of them is or both of them are less than twenty-one years older than the minor; (iii) the spouse of the parent of a minor may adopt such minor even though the adopter is under the age of twenty-five years or is less than twenty-one years older than the minor; (iv) any person may adopt a minor born of him or her which has previously been adopted by any person, whether or not he or she is under the age of twenty-five years or is less than twenty-one years older than the minor; (v) no person shall adopt, otherwise than jointly with his or her spouse, a minor less than twentyfive years younger than the said person, unless the minor is of the same sex as that person or that person is a widower, widow or an unmarried or divorced person and is the natural parent of the minor. (2) An adoption order shall not be made in any case where the sole applicant is a male and the minor in respect of whom the application is made is a female, unless the court is satisfied that there are special circumstances which justify as an exceptional measure the making of an adoption order. (3) An adoption order shall not be made except with the consent of every person or body who is a parent or legal guardian of the minor in respect of whom the application is made or who is liable to contribute to the support of the minor: Provided that— (i) in the case of a minor who is an illegitimate child, the consent of— (a) the father shall not be required for the purposes of this subsection; and (b) the mother shall not be regarded as invalid solely on the ground that at the time of giving the consent she was a minor or a married woman and was not assisted thereto by her parent, guardian or husband, as the case may be; (ii) the court may dispense with any consent required by this subsection if satisfied that the person whose consent is to be dispensed with has abandoned or deserted the minor or cannot be found or is incapable of giving such consent or, being a person liable to contribute to the support of the minor, either has persistently neglected or refused to contribute to such support or is a person whose consent ought, in the opinion of the court and in all the circumstances of the case, to be dispensed with; (iii) the court shall dispense with the consent of the parent or guardian of the minor if, in anticipation of any application for an order of adoption being made, a judge of the High Court has, upon an application made to him in chambers by the guardian ad litem, declared that such parent or guardian has abandoned or neglected such minor in circumstances deemed to be abandonment or neglect in terms of subsection (2) of section seven. (4) An adoption order shall not be made upon the application of one of two spouses without the consent of the other of them: Provided that the court may dispense with any consent required by this subsection if satisfied that the person whose consent is to be dispensed with cannot be found or is incapable of giving such consent or that the spouses have separated and are living apart and that the separation is likely to be permanent. (5) An adoption order shall not be made in favour of any applicant who is not resident and domiciled in Zimbabwe or in respect of any minor who is not so resident: Provided that, if the applicant and the minor are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, the adoption may be made in favour of an applicant who is not resident or domiciled in Zimbabwe. (6) An adoption order shall not be made unless the minor has been medically examined and a copy of the report relating to such examination has been furnished to the court and its contents have been made known to the applicant without disclosure to the applicant of any name appearing in the report. 32