In the Interest of W.C. and E.C., Minor Children, L.C., Mother
This text of In the Interest of W.C. and E.C., Minor Children, L.C., Mother (In the Interest of W.C. and E.C., Minor Children, L.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. 14-1546 Filed February 11, 2015
IN THE INTEREST OF W.C. and E.C., Minor Children,
L.C., Mother, Appellant. ________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, Paul B. Ahlers,
District Associate Judge.
The mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to two children.
AFFIRMED.
Justin Deppe of Deppe Law Office, Jewell, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant
County Attorney, and Patrick Chambers, County Attorney, for appellee.
Justin Kroona of Kroona Law Office, Webster City, for father.
Douglas Cook, Jewell, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor children.
Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Doyle and McDonald, JJ. 2
MCDONALD, J.
Laura appeals the juvenile court’s order terminating her parental rights to
her children, W.C. and E.C., pursuant to Iowa Code 232.116(1)(f) (2013). On
appeal, Laura contends there is not clear and convincing evidence “the child[ren]
cannot be returned to the custody of the child's parents as provided in section
232.102.” Iowa Code § 232.116(1)(f)(4). She also contends the termination of
her parental rights is not in the children’s best interests. We disagree, and we
affirm the order terminating Laura’s parental rights.
Our review in this case is de novo. See In re A.M., 843 N.W.2d 100, 110
(Iowa 2014). The juvenile court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law are
thorough, supported by record evidence, and without error, and we adopt them
as our own without repeating them in full herein. In sum, the mother has five
children all of whom she has subjected to or is subjecting to harm. Laura
previously consented to the termination of her parental rights to her two oldest
children. The two middle children—the children at issue in this case—have been
subjected to harm, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. They both
suffer from a variety of mental conditions: one child has been placed in a
children’s psychiatric hospital; the other child has been hospitalized in a
psychiatric unit. At the time of the termination hearing, the mother was not able
to assume care of the children because she was cohabiting with her paramour,
the father of the fifth and youngest child, who sexually abused a young female
relative, which the mother refuses to believe. In addition to the emotional,
physical, and sexual abuse, the children have been subjected to constant turmoil 3
and instability, including the mother’s erratic behavior, frequent changes of
address, and abandonment on more than one occasion when the mother simply
left them in the care of others.
The State has proved by clear and convincing evidence that the mother’s
parental rights should be terminated pursuant to section 232.116(1)(f) and that
termination of the mother’s rights is in the best interest of the children. See, e.g.,
In re C.A., No. 13-1987, 2014 WL 1234470, at *3 (Iowa Ct. App. Mar. 26, 2014)
(affirming termination or rights where mother continued to reside with paramour
who sexually abused child and citing cases). The juvenile court’s order is
affirmed without further opinion. See Iowa Ct. R. 21.26(1)(a), (b), (e).
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