On Saturday, an administrative court declined to rule in a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian Christian couple seeking to regain custody of their five-year-old adopted son, Shenouda. The court cited a lack of jurisdiction on the subject matter, stating that it was not within its power to either return the boy to his adoptive parents or overturn the decision by the authorities to assign him to the Islamic faith.

Shenouda’s case sparked controversy and public outcry in late 2022 when authorities removed him from his parents amid a family dispute over inheritance. A relative of Shenouda’s adoptive father filed a report questioning the child’s paternity, leading to DNA tests that revealed that the couple who had raised him were not his biological parents. As a result, the authorities took custody of Shenouda and placed him in an orphanage. They also assigned him to the Islamic faith and renamed him Youssef.

The Christian couple claims to have found Shenouda when he was only a few days old in a church in Cairo. They raised him as their own son in their Christian faith and named him Shenouda. They plan to appeal the court’s ruling.

Egyptian law does not assign a specific religion to children with unknown parents. However, the Civil Status Department at the Ministry of Interior, which regulates all personal documentation matters, typically assigns children with unknown parents to the Islamic faith.

Although adoption is prohibited under Egyptian law, the government oversees a foster care system known as kafala for abandoned children. Orphan children in Egypt who are placed in care homes are regulated under the Kafala system, which allows fostering from families under certain conditions.

The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) issued a statement in early January calling for the return of Shenouda to the parents who raised him while the courts rule on the matter. The council also urged the Ministry of Social Solidarity, which oversees child care matters, to consider the child’s best interest in all decisions. They asserted that removing the child from the family that raised him violates article 80 of the Egyptian Constitution, Child Law No.12 of 1996, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.