Court Opinion

ID: 9397105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-24 15:05:56.314459+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:21.452971
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

                                   No. 23-0091
                               Filed May 24, 2023

IN THE INTEREST OF J.T.A.,
Minor Child,

H.K., Mother,
       Petitioner-Appellee,

T.A., Father,
       Respondent-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________

      Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Daniel L. Block,

Associate Juvenile Judge.

      A father appeals the termination of his parental rights in a private

termination proceeding. AFFIRMED.

      Joseph G. Martin, Cedar Falls, for appellant father.

      Kevin D. Engels of Correll, Sheerer, Benson, Engels, Galles & Demro, PLC,

Cedar Falls, for appellee mother.

      Melissa Marie Ament of Timothy D. Ament Law Firm, P.C., Waterloo,

attorney and guardian ad litem for minor child.

      Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.
                                         2

SCHUMACHER, Presiding Judge.

       T.A., the father of the child at interest, J.T.A., appeals the juvenile court

order terminating his parental rights in a private termination proceeding. He claims

the court erroneously found he abandoned the child. He also contends termination

is not in the child’s best interests. We find clear and convincing evidence supports

the court’s determination that T.A. abandoned the child. Termination is in the

child’s best interests. Accordingly, we affirm.

I.     Background Facts & Proceedings

       T.A. and H.K. married in 2015. J.T.A. was born in 2016. The parents

divorced in 2017. The parents were granted joint legal custody and joint physical

care of J.T.A. pursuant to a parenting plan incorporated into a dissolution decree.

That original parenting plan did not contain a parenting schedule. In August 2018,

the decree was modified to award H.K. physical care of the child. T.A. was

awarded visitation on alternating weekends and every Wednesday. Following the

modification, T.A. initially participated in visits according to the schedule. He was

not required to pay child support.

       H.K. began a relationship with another man, C.K., in late 2017. They began

residing together in 2018. They have remained in the same residence since 2018.

They share a child together, born in 2020. They married in June 2022. J.T.A. calls

C.K. her dad, and C.K. wishes to adopt J.T.A.

       T.A.’s participation with J.T.A. substantially decreased around February

2019, when he moved to Florida.1 He visited J.T.A. in late March, and appears to

1 There was also some testimony that indicated he spent time in Oregon, although
the timeline of his movements is less than clear based on the record before us.
                                          3

have remained in contact with H.K. and J.T.A. through at least May. But all parties

agree that his last contact with the child and H.K. occurred in June 2019. Following

that, T.A. did not contribute financially to the child.      He did not attempt to

communicate with H.K., her parents, or C.K. H.K. believes J.T.A. would not

recognize T.A. anymore. T.A. blames the lack of contact on his belief that H.K.

blocked his phone number.

       H.K. contacted T.A. in June 2022 to ask him to consent to the termination

of his parental rights.2 T.A. refused. As a result, H.K. petitioned to terminate T.A.’s

parental rights in August 2022, alleging T.A. had abandoned the child.            The

termination hearing was conducted November 3. H.K., her husband, her father,

and T.A. testified. The court also received a report authored by the child’s guardian

ad litem (GAL) that recommended the termination of T.A.’s parental rights. The

court found T.A. abandoned J.T.A., that termination was in J.T.A.’s best interests,

and terminated T.A.’s parental rights. T.A. now appeals.

II.    Standard of Review

       “We review private termination proceedings de novo. We give deference to

the factual findings of the juvenile court, especially relating to witness credibility,

but we are not bound by those determinations. Our primary concern in termination

proceedings is the best interests of the child.” In re G.A., 826 N.W.2d 125, 127

(Iowa Ct. App. 2012) (internal citations omitted).

2T.A. consented to the termination of his parental rights to two other children. He
does not have contact with an additional child and disputes paternity of this child.
                                          4

III.   Abandonment

       Proceedings for the private termination of parental rights are a two-step

process; “[i]n the first step, the petitioner seeking termination must first show by

clear and convincing evidence a threshold event has occurred that opens the door

for potential termination of parental rights.” In re Q.G., 911 N.W.2d 761, 770 (Iowa

2018). We turn first to this threshold event. T.A. contends the court improperly

found he had abandoned the child.

              A parent abandons a child who is six months of age or older,
       unless the parent maintains substantial and continuous or repeated
       contact with the child as demonstrated by contribution toward
       support of the child of a reasonable amount, according to the parent’s
       means, and as demonstrated by any of the following:
              (1) Visiting the child at least monthly when physically and
       financially able to do so and when not prevented from doing so by
       the person having lawful custody of the child.
              (2) Regular communication with the child or with the person
       having the care or custody of the child, when physically and
       financially unable to visit the child or when prevented from visiting
       the child by the person having lawful custody of the child.
              (3) Openly living with the child for a period of six months within
       the one-year period immediately preceding the termination of
       parental rights hearing and during that period openly holding himself
       or herself out to be the parent of the child.

Iowa Code § 600A.8(3)(b) (2022).

       T.A. argues he was prevented from communicating with the child because

of his belief that H.K. blocked his phone number. But this court dealt with the same

argument in In re W.W., 826 N.W.2d 706 (Iowa Ct. App. 2012). In that case, our

court held:

              The problem with [that] argument is that it overlooks the
       predicate language of section 600A.8(3)(b), which states that a
       parent is deemed to have abandoned a child “unless the parent
       maintains substantial and continuous or repeated contact with the
       child as demonstrated by contribution toward support of the child of
       a reasonable amount.”
                                         5

W.W., 826 N.W.2d at 710. The same is true here. T.A. conceded he did not

provide financial support for the child.3 And to the extent T.A. asserts that H.K.

never asked for financial assistance, a parent has an obligation to support the child

regardless of the other parent’s disinclination to accept the resources. See In re

J.G., No. 21-1836, 2022 WL 2347775, at *4 (Iowa Ct. App. June 29, 2022). As

such, T.A. abandoned J.T.A. within the meaning of section 600A.8(3).

       Even if T.A.’s lack of financial support was not determinative, he failed to

visit or regularly communicate with J.T.A.       The juvenile court found T.A.’s

assertions regarding his efforts to contact the child were not credible. We defer to

that determination.   See G.A., 826 N.W.2d at 127.         According to T.A., after

attempting to contact H.K. in June 2019, he never attempted to make contact

again.4 He admits to having visited the area repeatedly since 2019, but did not

visit H.K.’s home. He did not contact H.K.’s husband despite having his contact

information. He never reached out to H.K.’s parents despite having their address

and phone numbers and testifying that he had an amicable relationship with H.K.’s

mother. See In re T.K., No. 16-0029, 2016 WL 4384869, at *2 (Iowa Ct. App.

Aug. 17, 2016) (concluding that the father’s attempts to contact the mother were

feeble at best when he knew of the mother’s parents’ home address, place of

employment, and telephone number but did not attempt to call them or visit their

3 That he was not obligated to pay child support under the dissolution and
subsequent modification is irrelevant to the analysis under chapter 600A. See
W.W., 826 N.W.2d at 710.
4 We note that H.K. was under no obligation to try to encourage contact. See Iowa

Code § 600A.8(3)(c) (“[T]he court shall not require a showing of diligent efforts by
any person to encourage the parent to perform the acts specified in paragraph ‘a’
or ‘b’.”).
                                            6

home). And if H.K. was in fact preventing his access, T.A. never took legal action

to enforce his visitation rights. See W.W., 826 N.W.2d at 711. T.A.’s own version

of events suggest he was not prevented from contacting the child, rather, he simply

chose not to do so. We determine T.A. abandoned J.T.A.

IV.    Best Interests of the Child

       “Once that threshold showing has been made,” as we determine it has been

here, “the petitioner next must show by clear and convincing evidence termination

of parental rights is in the best interest of the child.” Q.G., 911 N.W.2d at 770; see

also Iowa Code §§ 600A.1, 600A.8.

       T.A. contends termination is not in the child’s best interests.          When

considering a child’s best interests, we consider the statutory best interest

framework from Iowa Code section 232.116(2). In re A.H.B., 791 N.W.2d 687,

690-91 (Iowa 2010).

       We determine termination of T.A.’s parental rights is in the child’s best

interests. T.A. has no relationship with the child—he moved to Florida when the

child was about two years old. T.A. acknowledged J.T.A. would not recognize him.

See id. at 691 (“[I]t is significant that [the child] likely has no recollection of his

father.”). H.K. and C.K. testified that the child sees C.K. as her father, and C.K.

wishes to adopt the child. See J.G., 2022 WL 2347775, at *5 (noting that it was in

the child’s best interests to solidify a step-parent’s role as caregiver when they had

been performing that role for much of the child’s life). Termination of T.A.’s

parental rights is in J.T.A.’s best interests.

       AFFIRMED.