In re Interest of J.J., No. 9-887/09-1350 (Iowa App. 11/25/2009)
| Decision Date | 25 November 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 9-887/09-1350,9-887/09-1350 |
| Parties | IN THE INTEREST OF J.J., Minor Child, N.S.M., Mother, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, Kim M. Riley, District Associate Judge.
A mother appeals from the order terminating her parental rights. AFFIRMED.
Bethany J. Currie of Johnson, Sudenga, Latham, Peglow & O'Hare, P.L.C., Marshalltown, for appellant mother.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant Attorney General, and Randal J. Tilton, County Attorney, for appellee State.
Richard N. Dunn of Dunn & Dunn, P.C., Eldora, for minor child.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Doyle, JJ.
A mother appeals the district court order terminating her parental rights to one-and-a-half-year-old J.J. We affirm.
The Iowa Department of Human Services became involved with this family shortly after J.J.'s birth in April 2008. The mother has a full-scale IQ of 61, placing her in the mild mentally retarded range. Since J.J.'s birth, the mother has received numerous services, including financial assistance, budgeting, transportation (the mother did not have a valid driver's license), and help with housekeeping and tidiness. The mother has also received help to receive Social Security benefits for her mental impairment.
DHS arranged for thirty days of intensive in-home safety services by a Youth and Family Center worker. After the thirty days, the worker continued to meet with the mother on a weekly basis to assist with parenting skills development, supervision, and other daily living skills. The mother also met weekly with Greenbelt Home Care to evaluate J.J.'s physical health, and AEA 267 to evaluate J.J.'s developmental needs.
In July 2008, the mother married a man that she claimed was J.J.'s father. She later denied these allegations, and J.J.'s biological father has not been identified. The couple lived together with J.J. in Ackley in the mother's apartment. The marriage became unstable by September 2008, and the mother reported the husband was physically abusive toward her. The couple separated in January 2009. The mother filed for divorce and moved into an apartment in Iowa Falls.
The mother cooperated with the services offered to her, but failed to exhibit any significant amount of improvement in her parenting skills. The mother was unable to safely parent J.J. on her own without the assistance of a professional agency, and lacked the appropriate knowledge of beliefs and attitudes toward child care.
J.J. was removed from the mother's care on December 2, 2008, and was placed in family foster care where she has remained since that time. The removal was necessitated by the mother's travel to California, when she left J.J. with a person that DHS had not approved of, and without financial and medical care.1 The mother indicated to service providers that she intended to be gone in California for at least thirty days and made threats to abscond with J.J. Since J.J.'s removal, the mother has had regular visitation, initially supervised visits once a week, and progressed to partially unsupervised visits twice weekly.
The mother's requests for fully unsupervised visits were denied, as she failed to make adequate improvements in her parenting. At one point, the visits were increased in frequency and duration; however, service providers reported the increased visits were stressful for J.J., and the visits were decreased. J.J. became agitated and anxious during visits. The mother often got angry and yelled or swore at J.J. The mother did not recognize that J.J. was not old enough to comprehend what she was saying, and that J.J. did not understand why she was being disciplined.
The mother's home was not a safe environment for J.J. On numerous visits to the mother's apartment, J.J. would find cigarette butts and other debris on the floor and put them in her mouth. Even with the help of service providers to clean her apartment, the apartment was usually cluttered and messy at the time of J.J.'s visits. The mother consistently failed to have appropriate food for J.J., and failed to cut food into small pieces that J.J. would not choke on. These problems continued even after service providers repeatedly reminded the mother that she needed to be careful with J.J. and keep her apartment clean and safe for J.J. The mother failed to understand that J.J. could not distinguish household dangers. Service providers demonstrated how to perform specific parenting duties, and although the mother listened and complied, she failed to make sufficient improvements. The mother did not intentionally disregard the service providers' parenting advice and suggestions, but rather, her limited mental capacity impaired her abilities.
Service providers informed the mother that she would likely need someone else providing twenty-four-hour supervision over J.J. in order to safely return J.J. to her care. The mother attempted to find a roommate, but several plans fell through. The mother did not have good relationships with family members, and her relationships with friends were unstable and routinely deteriorated after a matter of months. Shortly before the termination hearing, the mother moved in and signed a month-to-month lease with a friend in Hampton. The mother indicated this friend was a mother of three children who could assist the mother with parenting J.J.
In July 2009, the State filed a termination petition. After a contested hearing, the court terminated the mother's parental rights on September 1, 2009, pursuant to Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(h) (2009). The mother now appeals.
We review termination proceedings de novo. In re R.E.K.F., 698 N.W.2d 147, 149 (Iowa 2005). Although we give weight to the juvenile court's findings of fact, we are not bound by them. In re K.N., 625 N.W.2d 731, 733 (Iowa 2001). The grounds for termination must be supported by clear and convincing evidence. In re T.B., 604 N.W.2d 660, 661 (Iowa 2000). Evidence is clear and convincing when it leaves "no serious or substantial doubt about the correctness of the conclusion drawn from it." In re D.D., 653 N.W.2d 359, 361 (Iowa 2002). Our primary concern in termination cases is the best interests of the child. In re A.S., 743 N.W.2d 865, 867 (Iowa Ct. App. 2007).
The mother argues the court erred in finding J.J. cannot be immediately returned to her care. She contends the State failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that J.J. would suffer further adjudicatory harm if returned to her care.
The mother has been involved with DHS since early 2008, and has received numerous and extensive services since that time. The mother has essentially received help with every aspect of day-to-day life, from transportation to financial assistance, to parenting skills and development. Throughout this time, however, the mother has failed to show significant improvement in her abilities to safely and adequately parent J.J. without agency assistance.
The same problems continued to arise throughout these proceedings. Although these problems are somewhat basic, they demonstrate the extent the mother's limited intellectual capacity impairs her ability to care for J.J. The mother was unable to keep her apartment clean and allowed J.J. to crawl and walk on the floor amidst cigarette butts and other debris. The mother had trouble keeping J.J.'s clothes clean and failed to feed J.J. appropriate foods or cut the food into small pieces. The mother was impulsive and yelled and swore at J.J. She failed to understand that J.J. did not know what she was saying, and the fact that J.J. could not protect herself from household dangers.
Aside from the mother's inability to provide general childcare to J.J., the mother could not obtain a job and did not have stable housing. In less than two years, the mother had lived with several different people, each for short periods of time, and in at least three different towns. She also indicated she wanted to move to California, and threatened to leave the state with J.J. When DHS did not give her permission to leave with J.J., the mother left J.J. with a friend (unknown to DHS) and went to California anyway. Prior to J.J.'s removal, the mother got married, but then filed for divorce less than a year later because her husband physically abused her. Although DHS indicated the mother may be able to care for J.J. if someone else provided twenty-four-hour supervision over J.J., the mother has demonstrated that she continues to put herself and J.J. in harmful situations, and that she is unable to maintain a stable relationship with anyone for more than a period of months.
The mother has not progressed to completely unsupervised or overnight visits, and attempts to increase visitation were halted because longer and more frequent visits adversely affected J.J. There continue to be major concerns about the mother's relationship choices, accountability, limited mental functioning, lack of employment and consistent housing, and lack of responsibility for the harms she causes J.J. For nearly...
To continue reading
Request your trial