In the Interest of J.C., J.C., and C.C., Minor Children, C.C., Mother
This text of In the Interest of J.C., J.C., and C.C., Minor Children, C.C., Mother (In the Interest of J.C., J.C., and C.C., Minor Children, C.C., Mother) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 15-0375 Filed May 6, 2015
IN THE INTEREST OF J.C., J.C., AND C.C., Minor Children,
C.C., Mother, Appellant. ________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark Fowler, District
Associate Judge.
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her three
children. AFFIRMED.
Timothy J. Tupper, Davenport, for appellant mother.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Janet L. Hoffman, Assistant Attorney
General, Michael J. Walton, County Attorney, and Julie Walton, Assistant County
Attorney, for appellee State.
Rebecca Ruggero, Bettendorf, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor
children.
Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Doyle, JJ. 2
VAITHESWARAN, J.
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her three
children, born in 2003, 2006, and 2012. She does not challenge the statutory
grounds for termination. She simply seeks “additional time for reunification” or
the creation of a guardianship in lieu of termination. See Iowa Code
§§ 232.104(2)(b), .116(3)(a) (2013). On our de novo review, we agree with the
district court that neither option is warranted.
The mother has a criminal history and a history of substance abuse. Her
youngest child was born with signs of drug withdrawal.
All three children were removed from the parents’ care in March 2013 and
were placed with the mother’s sister after a short stay elsewhere. The children
remained out of the mother’s care through the termination hearing in January
2015. During that period, the mother was in and out of jail and continued to
abuse drugs.
The mother did not participate in the termination hearing. At the time of
the hearing, she had been in jail for three months on a charge of possession of a
controlled substance. A hearing to revoke her probation was scheduled for a
later date and a jail-based drug treatment program was slated to continue for at
least a month after the termination hearing.
Although the mother acted appropriately during supervised visits, she
showed no signs of eschewing drugs despite years of State-sponsored services.
In short, her prognosis for reunification with her children was dim. Accordingly, a
six-month extension of time or the creation of a guardianship with her sister
would have served no useful purpose. 3
We affirm the termination of the mother’s parental rights to her three
AFFIRMED.
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