Opinion
No. 1-815 / 01-0799.
Filed January 9, 2002.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Emmet County, DONALD J. BORMANN, District Associate Judge.
The appellant challenges the juvenile court's denial of his motion to change venue in a CINA proceeding. AFFIRMED.
Michael H. Johnson of Stoller Johnson, Spirit Lake, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Gordon E. Allen, Deputy Attorney General, and Rosalise Olson, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Bethany Brands, Spirit Lake, guardian ad litem for minor children.
Considered by SACKETT, C.J., and MAHAN and HECHT, JJ.
Prentiss, Jr., the father of Darius and Prentiss, III, appeals from the juvenile court's denial of his motion for change of venue in the CINA proceedings concerning their care. He claims a change in venue to Linn or Black Hawk County would provide a more convenient forum and would be in the best interest of the children. We affirm.
Prentiss T., Jr. and Tamra H. are the parents of Darius H., born in 1995, and Prentiss T., III, born in 1998. Tamra has four other children and Prentiss, Jr. has three other children. These children are not party to these proceedings. In October 1999, while Prentiss, Jr. was incarcerated following a third conviction for OWI, Tamra and the children moved to Emmet County in an effort to flee her abusive boyfriend.
In May 2000, Tamra voluntarily relinquished the children to the Iowa Department of Human Services for foster care placement because she did not want to care for them any longer. A plan to place the children in Prentiss, Jr.'s care in August 2000 was aborted after he used cocaine two days before he was to take custody of the children. The children were then placed with Prentiss's sister and brother-in-law in Black Hawk County. That placement ended in January 2001 at Prentiss's sister's request because of her concern that Prentiss, Jr. was not involved with the children and had made little progress toward resuming their care. The children were returned to foster care in Emmet County.
In December 2000, Prentiss, Jr. filed a motion for change of venue asking that the CINA proceedings be moved to Linn County where he and his extended family live. Prentiss, Jr. claimed his reunification with the children would not have a chance if the children remained in a foster care home nearly three hundred miles from where he resided. The district court denied the motion. Prentiss, Jr. appeals.
Our review of CINA proceedings is de novo. In re K.N., 625 N.W.2d 731, 733 (Iowa 2001). We review the court's decision to grant or deny a change of venue for an abuse of discretion. Becker v. Wright, 540 N.W.2d 250, 253 (Iowa 1995). Iowa Code section 232.62 governs venue in CINA proceedings and provides, in pertinent part:
1. Venue for child in need of assistance proceedings shall be in the judicial district where the child is found or in the judicial district of the child's residence.
2. The court may transfer any child in need of assistance proceedings brought under this chapter to the juvenile court of any county having venue at any stage in the proceedings as follows:
a. When it appears that the best interests of the child or the convenience of the proceedings shall be served by a transfer, the court may transfer the case to the court of the county of the child's residence.
b. With the consent of the receiving court, the court may transfer the case to the court of the county where the child is found.
Iowa Code § 232.62 (1999) (emphasis added). In the case before us, the children are "residents" of Emmet County and "are found" there. They are not "found" in Linn or Black Hawk County, nor are they residents of those counties. Although the father argues either Linn or Black Hawk County is a more convenient forum or would serve their interest better, the statute restricts a change in venue on those grounds to the county of the child's residence. Iowa Code § 232.62(2)(a). As the children are not residents of Linn or Black Hawk County, we affirm the juvenile court's denial of the motion for change in venue.
AFFIRMED.