Court Opinion

ID: 9660787
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:20:51.154352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:22.131518
License: Public Domain

*455SACKETT, Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent.
The children have been in the legal custody of their maternal grandmother since removal from their mother’s care. The children are thriving in her care. The grandmother is willing to retain custody of the children until their natural mother is able to parent them.
Iowa Code section 232.116(3) (1991) provides that the court need not terminate the relationship between the parent and the child if the court finds any of the following: (a) a relative has legal custody of the child; and (c) there is clear and convincing evidence the termination would be detrimental to the child at the time because of the closeness of the parent-child relationship.
The children’s biological family is handling the situation. The children are now three years old and five years old and have bonded with their biological family.
Termination of parental rights carries with it no guarantees of adoption.
The children are well taken care of and their mother who was young when they were born is maturing. I have great respect for biological ties and great respect for this grandmother who was willing and able to help her daughter parent. There is no push by the grandmother to adopt the children. I do not understand how termination of parental rights does anything but harm these children who when their parental rights are terminated and they become wards of the state could be put in other placements and removed from the care of their grandmother who has been such an important and constant person in their lives.