IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 17

- 0582 Filed June 7, 2017

IN THE INTEREST OF J.W., Minor Child, L.B., Mother, Appellant.

________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Rachael E. Seymour , District Associate Judge.

Mother appeals following a dispositional order continuing placement of her child outsid e the home. AFFIRMED.

Karmen R. Anderson of The Law Office of Karmen Anderson, Des Moines, for appellant mother. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Mary A. Triick, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Michael J. Bandstra of Bandstra Law Office, Des Moines, guardian ad litem for minor child.

Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Doyle and McDonald, JJ.2

MCDONALD, Judge. The mother pursues this appeal following the entry of an order adjudicating her child, J.W., in need of assistance and th e entry of a disposition order placing the child in out

- of

- home placement under the supervision of the Iowa Department of Human Services. The mother raises only a single issue in this appeal

— whether the juvenile court abused its discretion in denying a mo tion to change venue. Our review of the juvenile “ court’s decision to grant or deny a change of

venue [is] for an abuse of discretion. ” In re D.A. , No. 06

- 0255, 2006 WL 9 3 1 4 25, at *2 (Iowa Ct. App. Apr. 12, 2006) (citing In re S.D. , 671 N.W.2d 522, 527 (Iowa Ct. App. 2003) )

. “ In order to show an abuse of discretion, a party must demonstrate the court exercised its discretion on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable. ” In re E.C. , No. 13

- 1090, 2013 WL 5291969, at * 3 (Iowa Ct. App. Sept. 18, 2013) (citing In re Estate of Olson , 479 N.W.2d 610, 613 (Iowa Ct. App. 1991) )

. The Iowa Code provides , “ Venue for child in need of assistance proceedings shall be in the judicial district where the child is found or in the judic ial district of the child ’ s residence. ” Iowa Code § 232.62(1) (201 6 ) . The juvenile court may transfer a proceeding “ to the juvenile court of any county having venue at any stage in the proceedings ” for two reasons. Iowa Code § 232.62(2). First, “ [ w ] hen it appears that the best interests of the child or the convenience of the proceedings shall be served by a transfer.” Iowa Code § 232.62(2)(a). Second, “[w] ith the consent of the receiving court, the court may3

transfer the case to the court of the count y where the child is found. ” Iowa Code § 232.62(2)( b ). Here, the guardian ad litem moved to change venue of this assistance proceeding from Polk County, in the Fifth Judicial District, to Union County, also in the Fifth Judicial District. The mother join ed in the motion. The juvenile court denied the motion to change venue for a variety of reasons. Primarily, the mother was already involved in another assistance proceeding in Polk County involving two older children. She would have to attend hearings, meeting s , and appointments in Polk County for that case. In addition, although the child at issue resided in Union County , it was unclear whethe r the placement was long

term. Also, the mother and father’s housing was unstable. The mother, on several occ asions, changed residences between Polk County and Union County. The juvenile court reasoned there was no need to change venue when the mother’s housing situation was unstable and she was likely to return to Polk County. We cannot conclude the juvenile c ourt’s exercise of discretion was clearly untenable or unreasonable.
AFFIRMED.