Over 2 million children are cared for in kinship care in Kenya, and approximately 100,000 are
believed to be living in residential care centres. Under leading international policy instruments
ratified and domesticated by Kenya, domestic adoption is considered an option to be promoted
and regulated in ensuring children's right to family‐based care. In this qualitative study, the
authors interviewed 21 participants regarding the cultural and social contexts of domestic adoption
in Kenya. Common beliefs and attitudes reflect a misunderstanding of the legal implications
of adoption, the centrality of lineage as a vehicle for defining family membership and inheritance,
and strong stigma regarding infertility. Main barriers to adoption include fear of exposing infertility,
worry about corrupt practices, and reluctance to grant full inheritance rights to a child unrelated
by blood. Despite these challenges, some couples are adopting to fulfil their desire for a
child, as an expression of charity, and in some cases for practical reasons such as obtaining insurance
for a kin child. The authors recommend placing children in adoption only with proper preparation
and ethical procedures and suggest long‐term approaches to promoting adoptions that
will ensure full rights of family membership for the child.