IN THE INTEREST OF F.K. and B.L.R., Minor Children, L.M.R., Mother, Appellant.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 8-171 / 08-0138
Filed March 14, 2008
IN THE INTEREST OF F.K. and B.L.R.,
Minor Children,
L.M.R., Mother,
Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Mary L. Timko,
Associate Juvenile Judge.
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her children.
AFFIRMED.
Molly Vakulskas Joly, Sioux City, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant
Attorney General, Patrick Jennings, County Attorney, and Marleen J. Loftus,
Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Brian Buckmeier, Sioux City, for father.
Elizabeth Row, Sioux City, guardian ad litem for minor children.
Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Eisenhauer and Baker, JJ.
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EISENHAUER, J.
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her children.
She contends the State failed to prove the grounds for termination by clear and
convincing evidence and termination is not in the children’s best interest. We
review these claims de novo. In re C.H., 652 N.W.2d 144, 147 (Iowa 2002).
F.K. and BR. are now five and two years old respectively. They have
been in foster care since November 2006. There has been no contact between
the mother and the children since December 2006. The mother’s parental rights
were terminated pursuant to Iowa Code sections 232.116(1)(b), (d), (e), (h), and
(l) (2007). We need only find termination proper under one ground to affirm. In
re R.R.K., 544 N.W.2d 274, 276 (Iowa Ct. App. 1995).
Termination is
appropriate under section 232.116(1)(d) where:
(1) The court has previously adjudicated the child to be a child in
need of assistance after finding the child to have been physically or
sexually abused or neglected as the result of the acts or omissions
of one or both parents, or the court has previously adjudicated a
child who is a member of the same family to be a child in need of
assistance after such a finding.
(2) Subsequent to the child in need of assistance adjudication, the
parents were offered or received services to correct the
circumstance which led to the adjudication, and the circumstance
continues to exist despite the offer or receipt of services.
The State has proved the grounds for termination under this section by
clear and convincing evidence.
The children were adjudicated in need of
assistance. The mother has a lengthy history of substance abuse and despite
receiving numerous services over several years, has been unable to maintain
sobriety. By her own testimony, she would need an additional six to eight months
to be able to resume care of the children. Termination is appropriate under
section 232.116(1)(d).
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Additionally, termination is in the children’s best interest. The children are
thriving in foster care where they have bonded with their foster parents and other
children in the home.
The family wishes to adopt the children.
The foster
parents have experience with F.K.’s special needs. Conversely, as found by the
district court, the mother has not shown “any interest, within the last two years
especially, towards having these children returned” to her care. The crucial days
of childhood cannot be suspended while the mother experiments with ways to
face up to her own problems. See In re C.K., 558 N.W.2d 170, 175 (Iowa 1997).
The children simply cannot wait for responsible parenting. Id. Accordingly, we
affirm.
AFFIRMED.
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