Court Opinion

ID: 9685494
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:43:40.127421+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:07.047825
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Judge
(specially concurring)
I concur specially. I too would affirm the trial court’s decision to terminate the parental rights of Ann’s1 parents. The majority has correctly applied Iowa statutory and case law to the facts of this case in ordering termination.
The majority has also determined that termination of this child’s parents’ parental rights is in the best interest. On the record before us, I am unable to make a determination of whether termination of her parental rights is in her best interest or is not in her best interest. Furthermore, the record in this case convinces me that while Ann’s parents have failed her, the state of Iowa and the system of which I am a part, also, have failed her.
Ann came to the state’s attention because her mother, Cathy2, called the Iowa Department of Human Services asking for services to assist her in caring for Ann. Ann was born in May 1989. Cathy’s call to the Department came in August 1989. At the time, Cathy was caring for Ann and Ann’s older sister who had been born in December 1986. Ann’s father had been sent to prison four days earlier. Cathy, who was just nineteen, had wanted Ann to be a boy. Cathy was alone in the community without family. Ann’s father, who was older than Cathy, had been the dominant person in the household. To assist Ann’s mother in parenting, Ann was put in foster care for a week and then returned to Cathy’s care. Then in December 1989, Ann was hospitalized and determined to be undernourished. When released, Ann *97was again placed in foster care where she remains now, nearly four years later. During this course of time, Ann has been in five foster placements. Ann’s trip through the foster care system has been frustrated in a number of ways. An initial worker assigned to Ann’s case worked toward family reunification. A subsequent worker did not work toward reunification, but sought termination. Ann’s father, when released from prison, attempted to gain custody of the child. The trial court denied him custody; he appealed and this court reversed and then the Supreme Court vacated our decision. There followed a termination hearing and this appeal. This all took time. Meanwhile, Ann remains in limbo.
Furthermore, our filing of this decision does not guarantee Ann’s situation will change. First, the appeal process does not end with this court. Further review by our Supreme Court may be requested and ordered. Secondly, termination does not guarantee adoption. While the record reflects Ann is receiving adequate care from foster parents in a rural Iowa community, these parents are not interested in adopting Ann because she is of African-American descent. The foster parents feel it would be difficult to integrate her in their community. Ann will not be an easy child to place for adoption. There is nothing in this record that convinces me Ann will find a satisfactory adoptive placement. She may well remain in the foster care system until she reaches adulthood.
I don’t excuse Ann’s parents for their deficiencies but, I note today, they are adequate parents to two of Ann’s siblings. One is older than Ann and the second is younger.
I do, however, have special empathy for a young mother attempting to parent two young children with little support. In retrospect, I ask if the result could have been different. Ann’s mother was young, poor, caring for two young children and with a husband very recently incarcerated when she called the Department for help. If Ann had not been put in the foster care system but, rather, services had been offered to her mother specifically directed to helping her keep and adequately care for Ann in her home, would Ann still be a part of her biological family and be growing up with her siblings?
When the state removes children from their parent’s care and terminates parental rights, I am of the opinion that the state has a serious obligation to assure the child a better situation and failure to meet this obligation should not be excused. I cannot find that state care has given Ann a better life. We cannot change what has happened to Ann. However, no child should spend his or her formative years in a series of foster homes. There currently are programs in this state that work on identifying parents’ strengths and helping them parent their children. Perhaps if monies directed to terminating parental rights were directed to these programs, we would better serve the children in this state whose parents experience difficulties in parenting. I cannot find Ann’s best interest has been served by this proceeding.

. Ann is not the child's given name. A.Y.H. are the child’s initials.

. Cathy is not the mother’s given name. C.H. are the mother's initials.