Opinion
No. 5-047 / 04-1991
Filed January 26, 2005
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Susan Flaherty, Associate Juvenile Judge.
A father appeals from a dispositional order in a child in need of assistance proceeding. AFFIRMED.
Mary McGee Light, Cedar Rapids, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Bruce Kempkes, Assistant Attorney General, Harold Denton, County Attorney, and Rebecca Belcher, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee-State.
Henry Keyes of the Keyes Law Offices, Cedar Rapids, guardian ad litem for minor child.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Zimmer and Hecht, JJ.
A father appeals from a dispositional order entered in a child in need of assistance proceeding. We affirm.
Aaron D. and Lisa M. are the parents of a son, Noah D., born July 24, 2004. Noah and his mother tested positive for cocaine at the time of Noah's birth. Lisa entered a substance abuse treatment program with her son, but relapsed a few weeks later.
Aaron has been involved with the juvenile court system for a lengthy period of time. He is currently seeking to regain custody of four of his older children in other proceedings before the juvenile court. This appeal concerns only Noah.
The State filed a child in need of assistance petition on September 21, 2004. Aaron was served with a copy of the petition, but he failed to appear at the adjudication hearing which was held October 22, 2004, and was found to be in default. The juvenile court adjudicated Noah as a child in need of assistance and scheduled a disposition hearing for December 2, 2004. Subsequent to the adjudication hearing, Noah was removed from his mother's care because of concerns that she was continuing to use cocaine.
Lisa appeared at the adjudication hearing and stipulated that Noah was a child in need of assistance.
Aaron appeared at the disposition hearing and was represented by court appointed counsel. At the hearing, Aaron, Lisa, and all other necessary parties agreed with the recommendation that Noah be placed in foster care. As a result, the juvenile court entered a dispositional order which placed Noah with the Department of Human Services (Department) for foster care placement. The court also authorized visitation between the child and his parents in the discretion of the Department, and scheduled a review hearing for April 8, 2005. After receiving a copy of the court's dispositional order, Aaron apparently had a change of heart and directed his attorney to file this appeal.
In his petition on appeal, Aaron advances a variety of arguments in support of his contention that the juvenile court erred by placing Noah with the Department for purposes of foster family care. The State responds that Aaron did not preserve any error for review. Upon review of the record, we agree with the State.
Our rules of trial and appellate procedure require that a party must preserve error to have an issue reviewed on appeal. See In re J.D.B., 584 N.W.2d 577, 581 (Iowa Ct App. 1998). There is nothing in the record which indicates that Aaron raised any of the arguments he now asserts on appeal before the juvenile court when the dispositional hearing was held. Moreover, the juvenile court's disposition order affirmatively indicates Aaron agreed that custody of Noah should be placed with the Department. Because Aaron has not preserved error on any of his claims, we decline to address them. We affirm the juvenile court's disposition order.
Even if Aaron had asserted his claims in a timely manner, the record is devoid of any evidence which supports them.
Aaron also suggests that his trial counsel was ineffective, but does not specify how counsel performed incompetently. Accordingly, we decline to address this claim.