In the Interest of A.D. and S.D., Minor Children
D.D., Father-Appellant
A.L., Mother-Appellant
Attorney for Appellant Father
Jeannette Keller
Attorney for Appellant Mother
Sue Kirk
Attorney for Appellee State
Ellen Ramsey-Kacena, Assistant Attorney General
Guardian ad Litem
Anthony A. Haughton
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Deborah Farmer Minot, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Ahlers, J. (5 pages)
A mother and father separately appeal the juvenile court order terminating their parental rights to their minor children. On appeal, the mother and father each separately argue (1) the juvenile court erred by not granting additional time to work towards reunification and (2) the juvenile court erred by not declining to terminate the parents’ rights under section 232.116(3)(c) due to the closeness of the parents’ relationship with the children. OPINION HOLDS: Based on their performance in the fifteen months since the children were originally removed, there is no indication that the reasons for removal will no longer exist after an additional six months. As such, an extension is not warranted. We decline to apply section 232.116(3)(c) to avoid terminating the parents’ parental rights. We affirm on both appeals.
