Court Opinion

ID: 9579992
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:00:38.729973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:56.777964
License: Public Domain

SACKETT, Judge
(specially concurring).
The majority has terminated the parental rights of two boys born in 1987 and 1988 and twins born in 1990. The parents are poor. They kept a dirty house, did not keep the children clean or in the proper clothing, and did not properly discipline the children. There is no contention the parents sexually or physically abused the children.
The father appeals the termination contending he loves the children (which does not seem to be questioned) and with more time and with help he could assume their care. The children are in foster homes, and the foster parents have had a number of services offered to them to assist with the children’s care.
The two older children have problems in their foster homes and have been determined to be children with special needs and special behavioral problems. There is no assurance the older children will be adopted and the evidence was the older child would have to be kept in foster care for a year before there would be an attempt to find an .adoptive placement. Apparently, there was evidence the twins would be adopted but I am not certain from reading the record specifically what plans have been made for the twins.
The result of this termination is the children will have their biological ties cut, not only with their birth parents but, also, with their siblings.
The father said with additional time and some of the services offered to the foster parents, he could care for the children. I agree with the majority that this family has had extensive services. They have apparently not cured the family’s problems. Whether the services were not correctly tailored to the family’s needs or whether the parents failed to cooperate with the services, I cannot tell from the record, although, I would assume both factors came into play when the services failed. I do know the state of Iowa has spent considerable money on this family as evidenced by the volume of reports in the file. When the state fails to keep a family together, we should look critically at what has happened and ask if the services offered are good and directed to the problem.
If these children are placed soon in stable adoptive homes, they probably will be better off as a result of this termination. If they are not adopted and remain adrift in foster care with no parents to love them and look out for them, they may have been better off in the care of their parents with their biological ties intact even if the continual delivery of services to their father was necessary for him to care for them.
I have difficulty voting to affirm termination of parental rights on a record that supplies no clear evidence the children will go to stable homes. The secrecy that exists in these cases curtails the courts’ and public’s knowledge of the true picture of the number of children whose parental rights have been terminated who are waiting for adoption.1 Furthermore, we have no knowledge of the outcome of an adoptive placement. I have fears, that despite our good intentions, we may not be operating in the interest of the children. I reluctantly concur.

. In 1992, of the 263 special-needs children freed for adoption, only 138 were adopted. See Phoebe Wall Howard, Special-needs Kids Pray for New Families, New Lives, Des Moines Sunday Register, October 10, 1993, at 1A.