In the Interest of F.A., Minor Child
B.C., Mother-Appellant
F.A., Father-Appellant
Attorney for Appellant Mother
Barbara J. Westphal
Attorney for Appellant Father
Cameron M. Sprecher
Attorney for Appellee State
Ellen Ramsey-Kacena, Assistant Attorney General
Guardian ad Litem
Crystal Ely
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
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.
