Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1819
View Summary for Case No. 19-1819
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Patrick H. Tott, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Ahlers, J. (6 pages)
Following a review-commitment hearing, the district court found R.G. to be seriously mentally impaired pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 229 (2019) and ordered her to undergo inpatient treatment. R.G. appeals. OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports the findings that all elements necessary for civil commitment under chapter 229 have been met. Therefore, we affirm the district court.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1834
View Summary for Case No. 19-1834
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Susan Cox, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (7 pages)
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her child, asserting termination is not in the child’s best interests. OPINION HOLDS: Termination of the mother’s parental rights in the child’s best interests.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1955
View Summary for Case No. 19-1955
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, Rose Anne Mefford, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., Doyle, J., and Mahan, S.J. Opinion by Mahan, S.J. (3 pages)
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to two children. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the decision of the juvenile court to terminate the mother’s parental rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1956
View Summary for Case No. 19-1956
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Mark Fowler, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by Mullins, J. (2 pages)
A mother appeals an order terminating her parental rights in a proceeding under Iowa Code chapter 600A (2019). OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court order terminating the mother’s parental rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1984
View Summary for Case No. 19-1984
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Virginia Cobb, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by May, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Mahan, S.J. Opinion by Mahan, S.J. (10 pages)
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to two children. She contends (1) the State failed to prove the grounds for termination cited by the juvenile court; (2) termination was not in the children’s best interests; and (3) the children’s placement with the father should have precluded termination of her parental rights. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the decision of the juvenile court to terminate the mother’s parental rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-2141
View Summary for Case No. 19-2141
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Eric J. Nelson, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (4 pages)
Former foster parents for a child appeal the denial of their motion to intervene in a child-in-need-of-assistance case. OPINION HOLDS: We determine the juvenile court did not err in denying the application to intervene and affirm.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-2142
View Summary for Case No. 19-2142
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Brendan Greiner, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., Mullins, J., and Carr, S.J. Opinion by Carr, S.J. (5 pages)
A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his child. OPINION HOLDS: Clear and convincing evidence supports terminating the father’s parental rights under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(h) (2019). The father failed to challenge the State’s reasonable efforts to return the child to his care and has thus waived this claim on appeal. Termination is in the child’s best interests, and we decline to apply Iowa Code section 232.116(3)(a) to avoid terminating the father’s parental rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0022
View Summary for Case No. 20-0022
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Stephen A. Owen, District Associate Judge. REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED. Considered by Bower, C.J., May, J., and Blane, S.J. Opinion by Blane, S.J. (13 pages)
A father appeals from a child-in-need-of-assistance (CINA) dispositional order that granted the department of human services and the county attorney a limited waiver of confidentiality so the state authorities could inform other entities of the findings in the case and provide notice that N.S. presents a danger to children with whom he has unsupervised contact. OPINION HOLDS: The juvenile court order that provided state authorities could advise “any relevant private or governmental entity in order to reasonably protect children in this community” exceeded statutory confidentiality in CINA proceedings and on remand must be limited to what statutes authorize.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0035
View Summary for Case No. 20-0035
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Adam D. Sauer, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Carr, S.J. Opinion by Carr, S.J. (4 pages)
A mother and a father separately appeal the termination of their parental rights to their child. OPINION HOLDS: We may affirm the termination of both the mother’s and the father’s parental rights under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(h) (2019). The record shows termination is in the child’s best interests given each parent’s lack of progress during the child-in-need-of-assistance proceedings. The father failed to preserve error on his challenge to the reasonable-efforts requirement. And we decline to delay permanency for six months because there is no basis for finding the need for the child’s removal would no longer exist at the end of that period. We affirm the termination of both the mother’s and the father’s parental rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0039
View Summary for Case No. 20-0039
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Rachael E. Seymour, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (7 pages)
A mother and father separately appeal the termination of their parental rights to their children. Each contends the State failed to prove the grounds for termination by clear and convincing evidence, termination of their parental rights is not in the best interests of the children, and the court should allow them an additional six months to achieve reunification. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm on both appeals.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0057
View Summary for Case No. 20-0057
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Thomas Mott, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (5 pages)
The mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to two of her children, D.G., born in 2013, and M.L., born in 2018. The mother purports to challenge whether the children could be returned to her care at the time of the termination hearing in December 2019, if termination is in the children’s best interests, and whether a permissive factor in Iowa Code section 232.116(3) (2019) precludes termination. OPINION HOLDS: Insofar as her claims have been preserved for our review, we find the statutory grounds for termination were met and termination of the mother’s rights is in these children’s best interests. We refuse to consider the mother’s claim regarding the application of permissive factors, as she did not present evidence nor make argument to the juvenile court regarding the preservation of her rights.
Filed Apr 15, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0116
View Summary for Case No. 20-0116
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Cynthia S. Finley, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., Greer, J., and Gamble, S.J. Opinion by Gamble, S.J. (7 pages)
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights. OPINION HOLDS: A statutory ground authorizing termination is satisfied. Termination is in the children’s best interests. We decline to apply any of the permissive exceptions to termination found in Iowa Code section 232.116(3) (2019).