IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 14-1713

Filed December 10, 2014

IN THE INTEREST OF C.N. and J.N.,

Minor Children,

S.N., Father,

Appellant.

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

District Associate Judge.

A father appeals from the order terminating his parental rights. 

AFFIRMED.

Blake D. Lubinus of Lubinus Law Firm, Des Moines, for appellant father.

Lane Lucas, Des Moines, for mother.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant 

Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Christina Gonzalez, 

Assistant County Attorney, for appellee State.

Charles Fuson of the Youth Law Center, Des Moines, for minor children.

Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Doyle and Tabor, JJ.
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DANILSON, C.J.

A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his two children:

C.N, born in March 2009; and J.N., born in September 2010.1 Because statutory 

grounds exist to terminate the father’s parental rights, and because termination is 

in the best interests of the children, we affirm. 

We conduct a de novo review of termination-of-parental-rights 

proceedings. In re P.L., 773 N.W.2d 33, 40 (Iowa 2010).

According to the father’s testimony, he resided in the Polk County Jail 

from September 9, 2011, until he entered a federal correctional institution on 

May 30, 2013. He is incarcerated at this time for drug charges. His date of 

discharge is in January 2019. 

The children were removed from their mother’s care on July 10, 2013, and 

adjudicated children in need of assistance (CINA) on August 29, 2013, due to the 

mother’s substance abuse issues. At the time of the July 22, 2014 termination 

hearing, the children had been removed from the physical care of their parents 

for more than one year. They could not be returned to their father’s care 

because he remained incarcerated. On July 22, 2014, the juvenile court 

terminated the father’s parental rights pursuant to Iowa Code section 

232.116(1)(e) (as to both children), (f) (as to C.N.), and (h) (as to J.N.) (2013).

On appeal, the father challenges the termination of his parental rights only 

as to section 232.116(1)(e) (failure to maintain significant contact). We may 

 

1 The mother separately appealed. However, her appeal was dismissed by an order of 

the supreme court on November 10, 2014. 
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affirm the juvenile court’s termination order on any ground that we find supported 

by clear and convincing evidence. In re D.W., 791 N.W.2d 703, 707 (Iowa 2010). 

Section 232.116(1)(f) provides that termination may be ordered when 

there is clear and convincing evidence that a child four years of age or older who 

has been adjudicated a CINA and removed from the parents’ care for at least the 

last twelve consecutive months cannot be returned to the parents’ custody at the 

time of the termination hearing. There is clear and convincing evidence to 

support the termination of the father’s parental rights to C.N. pursuant to this 

section.

Section 232.116(1)(h) provides that termination may be ordered when 

there is clear and convincing evidence that a child under the age of three who 

has been adjudicated a CINA and removed from the parents’ care for at least the 

last six consecutive months cannot be returned to the parents’ custody at the 

time of the termination hearing. There is clear and convincing evidence to 

support termination of the father’s parental rights to J.N. pursuant to this section.

Giving primary consideration to “the child[ren]’s safety, . . . the best 

placement for furthering the long-term nurturing and growth of the child, and . . . 

the physical, mental, and emotional condition and needs of the child,” Iowa Code 

§ 232.116(2), we conclude termination of the father’s parental rights will best 

provide the children with the permanency they deserve. 

While the father asks that we not terminate his parental rights because the 

children are currently placed with his mother, legal custody of the children is with 

the department of human services and, therefore, section 232.116(3)(a) is not 

applicable. See In re A.M., 843 N.W.2d 100, 113 (Iowa 2014) (“Although section 
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232.116(3)(a) allows the juvenile court not to terminate when a “relative has legal 

custody of the child,” Iowa Code § 232.116(3)(a), A.M. is not in the legal custody 

of her grandparents.”). The juvenile court found no exception under section 

232.116(3) applicable. We agree.

AFFIRMED.