Opinion
No. 17-1449
11-22-2017
IN THE INTEREST OF G.J., Minor Child, B.J., Father, Appellant.
John C. Heinicke of Kragnes & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant father. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Ana Dixit, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Yvonne C. Naanep, Des Moines, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor child.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Mark F. Schlenker, District Associate Judge. A father appeals the order terminating his parental rights to his child. AFFIRMED. John C. Heinicke of Kragnes & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant father. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Ana Dixit, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Yvonne C. Naanep, Des Moines, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor child. Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ. PER CURIAM.
A father appeals from the order terminating his parental rights to his child, G.J., born in March 2014, pursuant to Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(b), (e), (h), and (l) (2017). The father concedes there is clear and convincing evidence supporting termination of his rights under each statutory provision. He acknowledges he has unresolved substance-abuse, mental-health, and domestic-violence issues, and he has no stable job or housing. He seeks additional time to address these barriers to being a safe parent. The father contends termination of his rights is not in the child's best interests, and the bond between father and child should preclude termination.
On our de novo review, see In re A.M., 843 N.W.2d 100, 110 (Iowa 2014), we conclude additional time is not warranted. See Iowa Code § 232.104(2)(b) (requiring that before a court may grant an extension, it must make a determination the need for removal will no longer exist at the end of the extension). The three-year-old child has been adjudicated a child in need of assistance, has been out of the father's custody for more than the statutory time period, and cannot be returned at present. See id. § 232.116(1)(h). The father has not seen the child since February 2017 and concedes he has essentially abandoned the child. See id. § 232.116(1)(b).
Giving "primary consideration to the child's safety, to the best placement for furthering the long-term nurturing and growth of the child, and to the physical, mental, and emotional condition and needs of the child," see id. §232.116(2), we conclude that terminating the father's parental rights is in the child's best interest. The child is doing well in his preadoptive foster home. We will not deprive this child of permanency after the State has proved grounds for termination "by hoping someday a parent will learn to be a parent and be able to provide a stable home for the child." A.M., 843 N.W.2d at 112.
Moreover, the record does not show there exists a parent-child bond such that termination will be detrimental to the child. See Iowa Code § 232.116(3)(c). We affirm.
AFFIRMED.