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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 7-116 / 06-1931 Filed March 14, 2007 IN THE INTEREST OF D.R., T.R., and T.R., Minor Children, A.J.T., Mother, Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Buena Vista County, Mary L. Timko, Associate Juvenile Judge.

A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her children. AFFIRMED.

Andrew J. Smith, Storm Lake, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant Attorney General, Philip E. Havens, County Attorney, and Meghann Whitmer, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee. Carol Hallman of Hudson Law Firm, Pocahontas, for father. John Murray, Storm Lake, guardian ad litem for minor child.

Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and Eisenhauer, JJ.

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EISENHAUER, J. A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her children. She contends the State failed to prove the grounds for termination by clear and convincing evidence and that termination is not in the children's best interest. We review these claims de novo. In re C.H., 652 N.W.2d 144, 147 (Iowa 2002). The mother's parental rights were terminated pursuant to Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(f) (2005). In order to terminate under this section, the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence the following: (1) The child is four years of age or older. (2) The child has been adjudicated a child in need of assistance pursuant to section 232.96. (3) The child has been removed from the physical custody of the child's parents for at least twelve of the last eighteen months, or for the last twelve consecutive months and any trial period at home has been less than thirty days. (4) There is clear and convincing evidence that at the present time the child cannot be returned to the custody of the child's parents as provided in section 232.102. Iowa Code

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