IN THE MATTER OF T.L., Minor Child, D.L.A., Father, Appellant.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 8-095 / 07-2128
Filed February 13, 2008
IN THE MATTER OF T.L., Minor Child,
D.L.A., Father,
Appellant.
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Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Daniel L.
Block, Associate Juvenile Judge.
Father appeals the order terminating his parental rights to his child.
AFFIRMED.
Mary Kennedy, Waterloo, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant
Attorney General, Thomas J. Ferguson, County Attorney, and Steve Halbach,
Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Steven Norby, Legal Aid of Iowa, Waterloo, for grandmother.
Timothy Baldwin, Assistant Juvenile Public Defender, Waterloo, guardian
ad litem for minor child.
Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Eisenhauer and Baker, JJ.
2
EISENHAUER, J.
A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his child pursuant
to Iowa Code sections 232.116(1)(b), (e), (f), and (j) (2007). He concedes the
grounds for termination have been proved by clear and convincing evidence.
However, he contends termination is not in the child’s best interest. Upon de
novo review, see In re C.H., 652 N.W.2d 144, 147 (Iowa 2002), we find it is and
affirm.
The father is incarcerated on six counts of forgery, one count of seconddegree theft, and two counts of second-degree robbery.
He has been
imprisoned throughout the child’s life and it is unlikely he will be released from
prison in the next five years. He has no relationship with the child. The father is
essentially asking for the child to wait until he is released from prison and
establishes a relationship with her to be able to assume parenting
responsibilities. Children should not be forced to endlessly await the maturity of
a natural parent. In re C.B., 611 N.W.2d 489, 494 (Iowa 2000). At some point,
the rights and needs of the child rise above the rights and needs of the parent. In
re J.L.W., 570 N.W.2d 778, 781 (Iowa Ct. App. 1997).
AFFIRMED.
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