In the Interest of J.R., Minor Child, C.B., Father ( 2016 )

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 16-0303
Filed April 27, 2016
IN THE INTEREST OF J.R.,
Minor Child,
C.B., Father,
Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Winnebago County, Karen
Kaufman Salic, District Associate Judge.
A father appeals from the order terminating his parental rights.
AFFIRMED.
Theodore J. Hovda, Garner, for appellant father.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee State.
Jane M. Wright of Jane M. Wright, Attorney at Law, Forest City, attorney
and guardian ad litem for minor child.
Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Mullins and McDonald, JJ.
2
PER CURIAM.
A father appeals from the juvenile court’s order terminating his parental
rights to his five-year-old child, J.R.1 We review termination-of-parental-rights
proceedings de novo. In re A.M., 843 N.W.2d 100, 110 (Iowa 2014).
At the termination hearing for the child’s mother, the father appeared and
consented to the termination of his parental rights, pursuant to Iowa Code section
232.116(1)(a).2 He testified he was consenting voluntarily and believed
termination was in the child’s best interests. On appeal, the father does not deny
his consent was voluntary and intelligent, nor does he deny there was good
cause for him to desire the termination. Instead, he claims he consented to the
termination because the Iowa Department of Human Services did not cooperate
with him or make reasonable efforts to allow him to improve his bond with the
child. He also claims an exception to termination applies because “termination
would be detrimental to the child . . . due to the closeness of the parent-child
relationship.” Iowa Code § 232.116(3)(c).
The father did not raise these issues before the juvenile court, and
therefore, they are not preserved for our review. See In re A.B., 815 N.W.2d
764, 773 (Iowa 2012) (“[T]he general rule that appellate arguments must first be
raised in the trial court applies to [child-in-need-of-assistance] and termination of
parental rights cases.”). Furthermore, we agree with the juvenile court that
termination is in the child’s best interests. See In re T.N.M., 542 N.W.2d 574,
1
The court also terminated the mother’s parental rights to J.R. pursuant to Iowa Code
section 232.116(1)(a) (2015). She does not appeal.
2
Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(a) provides a court may terminate parental rights when
“[t]he parents voluntarily and intelligently consent to the termination of parental rights
and the parent-child relationship and for good cause desire the termination.”
3
576 (Iowa Ct. App. 1995) (finding, when a parent voluntarily and intelligently
consents to the termination of her parental rights at the time of the termination
hearing, the consent is “binding if it is in the best interest[s] of the child”).
Because the father’s consent to termination was voluntarily and
intelligently given and there was good cause for him to desire the termination, we
affirm without further opinion. See Iowa R. App. P. 6.1203(a), (d).
AFFIRMED.