No. 08-1173.Court of Appeals of Iowa.
December 17, 2008.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Mark Kruse, District Associate Judge.
A father appeals a juvenile court order terminating his parental rights to a child. AFFIRMED.
Todd E. Chelf of Cray, Goddard, Miller, Taylor Chelf, L.L.P., Burlington, for mother.
Andrew S. Hoth of Hoth Law Offices, Burlington, for father.
Reyna L. Wilkens of Roberts Law Office, Burlington, for minor child.
Considered by HUITINK, P.J., and VOGEL and MAHAN, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
The mother of a girl who was just short of her fourteenth birthday at the time of a termination of parental rights hearing sought termination of the father’s parental rights to their daughter. Following a hearing the juvenile court filed detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law and ordered termination. In doing so it found that the mother had proved by clear and convincing evidence the grounds for termination pursuant to Iowa Code sections 600A.8(3)(b) (2007) (abandonment) and 600A.8(4) (failure, without good cause, to pay ordered support) and that termination is in the child’s best interest. The father appeals, claiming the juvenile court erred in finding clear and convincing evidence for termination pursuant to sections 600A.8(3) and 600A.8(4) and in finding termination to be in the child’s best interest.
Our review is de novo. In re T.Q., 519 N.W.2d 105, 106
(Iowa Ct.App. 1994). We find clear and convincing evidence proved both of the two statutory grounds for termination relied on by the juvenile court. In addition, we find the record clearly and convincingly demonstrates that termination is in the child’s best interest so she can be adopted by her stepfather, the only person who has served as her father and the person whom she has known as her father since she was two years of age.
We affirm the judgment of the juvenile court. See Iowa Ct. Rs. 21.29(1)(b), (d), (e); 21.29(2).
AFFIRMED.