Opinion
No. 2-324 / 01-1368.
Filed July 19, 2002.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, DUANE E. HOFFMEYER, Judge.
A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her daughter.
AFFIRMED.
Martha McMinn, Sioux City, for appellant-father.
Joseph W. Flannery, LeMars, for appellant-mother.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, M. Elise Pippin, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas S. Mullin, County Attorney, and Marlene J. Loftus, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee-State.
Ryan Ross of Vriezelaar, Tigges, Edgington, Rossi, Bottaro Boden, Sioux City, guardian ad litem for minor child.
Considered by MAHAN, P.J., and ZIMMER and EISENHAUER, JJ.
Cori appeals the termination of her parental rights to her daughter Alex. She contends termination was improper when she has been drug-free over the last two years. We review this claim de novo. See In re M.T., 613 N.W.2d 690, 691 (Iowa Ct.App. 2000).
Parental rights were terminated pursuant to Iowa Code sections 232.116(1)(c), 232.116(1)(d), 232.116(1)(g), 232.116(1)(h), and 232.116(1)(k) (1999) on July 31, 2001. Alex was born on January 11, 1999 and has been in foster care since July 29, 1999. She was removed from her mother's custody after the mother was found to be using and selling drugs and a warrant was issued for her arrest for probation violation. The order entered after the removal hearing found Cori has a long history of drug use and had received chemical abuse treatment six times. After criminal charges were filed in February 1999, she and her children lived with her mother under conditions of house arrest. She violated the terms of the house arrest and a search of her room found marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Alex was adjudicated a child in need of assistance on September 30, 1999, while Cori was in jail. At the disposition hearing and at a review hearing, Alex was continued in the custody of the Iowa Department of Human Services for family foster care placement. She has remained in the same foster home and has had no contact with her mother since removal. She does not know or recognize her mother.
Cori was in prison from October 1999 until she was paroled on December 19, 2000. She was paroled to the Residential Treatment Facility in Sioux City and was discharged on March 21, 2001. At the time of trial, she was on parole and living with her mother. She had been chemical-free from the time of her arrest in July 1999 to time of trial.
The court must consider Alex's future if she is returned to the custody of her mother. Insight for this future can only be gained from past actions. In re R.L.F., 437 N.W.2d 599, 600-01 (Iowa Ct.App. 1989). This court need only find one ground for termination to affirm the trial court's judgment. In re S.R., 600 N.W.2d 63, 64 (Iowa Ct.App. 1999). Each of the grounds alleged require the court to find the child cannot safely be returned to her mother and that is the focus of this appeal. See Iowa Code §§ 232.116 (1)(c), (d), (g), (h), and (k). Cori points to her recent sobriety, completion of classes while in prison and on parole, and demonstrated change in lifestyle. The State urges that her past, relapses, and extensive services all indicate she will be unable to maintain a chemical-free lifestyle and Alex should have to wait no longer for her mother.
The trial court terminated pursuant to section 232.116(1)(g) and we agree. There is no argument as to the first three elements of the ground: adjudication, child under four years of age and out of her mother's care for six consecutive months. Iowa Code § 232.116(1)(g). There is also clear and convincing evidence she cannot be returned to the custody of her mother without suffering some harm as set out in Iowa Code section 232.102. Cori has used drugs since she was thirteen years old. It would not be safe to return the child to Cori.
Termination of parental rights must be in the best interest of the child. In re T.R., 483 N.W.2d 334, 337 (Iowa Ct.App. 1992). Termination is in Alex's best interest. She is happy and healthy in the only home she has ever known. She is bonded with her foster parents. Waiting for her mother to demonstrate recovery from chemical dependency outside a correctional institution should not be required.
AFFIRMED.