IN THE INTEREST OF A.L. and H.L., Minor Children, J.P.L., Father, Appellant.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 9-870 / 09-1114
Filed December 30, 2009
IN THE INTEREST OF A.L. and H.L.,
Minor Children,
J.P.L., Father,
Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joe E. Smith, District
Associate Judge.
A father appeals from the juvenile court order adjudicating his children in
need of assistance. AFFIRMED.
Frank Steinbach of McEnroe, Gotsdiner, Brewer, Steinbach & Henrichsen,
P.C., West Des Moines, for appellant father.
David Erickson of Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C., Des
Moines, for appellee mother.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Bruce Kempkes, Assistant Attorney
General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Michelle Chenoweth, Assistant
County Attorney, for appellee State.
Karl Wolle and Charles Fuson of Youth Law Center, Des Moines, for
minor children.
Considered by Eisenhauer, P.J., and Potterfield and Danilson, JJ.
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EISENHAUER, P.J.
A father appeals from part of the juvenile court order adjudicating his
children in need of assistance. He contends the State failed to prove by clear
and convincing evidence the children were sexually abused. We review his claim
de novo.
The children were adjudicated in need of assistance based on three
grounds: failure to supervise, past or imminent sexual abuse, and failure to
provide adequate care due to mental health or substance abuse problems. See
Iowa Code § 232.2(6)(c)(2), (d), (n) (2007). He only challenges the adjudication
under Iowa Code section 232.2(6)(d).
Because the unchallenged grounds
support the adjudication, we may affirm. See In re L.G., 532 N.W.2d 478, 480
(Iowa Ct. App. 1995). However, as our court has noted,
The underlying grounds of adjudication in child in need of
assistance cases have important legal implications beyond the
adjudication. The grounds for adjudication may affect the course of
the dispositional phase of the case, and may even be the basis for
a subsequent proceeding for termination of a parent-child
relationship.
Id. Therefore, we choose to address the merits of the father’s claim.
Upon de novo review of the record, we find clear and convincing evidence
supports adjudicating the children in need of assistance on the grounds they
have suffered or are imminently likely to suffer sexual abuse. The evidence
shows the older child, then five years old, began acting in a sexualized way with
her younger sister. She reported she had learned this behavior from her father
who had told her not to tell anyone. The child then reported to her therapist that
she had been sexually abused by her father on multiple occasions. The therapist
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did not believe the child had been coached to make the allegations. Accordingly,
we affirm the juvenile court order adjudicating the children in need of assistance
pursuant to section 232.2(6)(d).
AFFIRMED.
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