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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 1-789 / 11-1304 Filed November 23, 2011 IN THE INTEREST OF J.T., Minor Child, M.T., Mother, Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Barbara Liesveld, District Associate Judge.

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

Kara L. McFadden, Cedar Rapids, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kathrine S. Miller-Todd, Assistant Attorney General, Jerry Vander Sanden, County Attorney, and Kelly Kaufman, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee. Julie Trachta, Cedar Rapids, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor child.

Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Tabor, JJ.

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TABOR, J. A mother challenges the order terminating her parental rights to her eightyear-old son, J.T. She claims she can safely care for her son despite her mental health issues and termination is not in his best interests. In our de novo review, we find clear and convincing evidence the mother's chronic and stubborn mental illness stands in the way of reuniting with J.T. Given the threat to the child posed by the mother's delusional beliefs, the child's best interests are served by moving toward a permanent, adoptive home. Wendy is the mother of two sons. Only the youngest, J.T., is the subject of this appeal. J.T.'s father committed suicide in December 2008. In January 2010, J.T.--who was in the first grade--started seeing a therapist. By April 2010 the therapist diagnosed J.T. as having a "major depressive disorder." He lost interest in his daily activities; he missed school because he could not get out of bed and, when at school, would cry and curl up in a fetal position under his desk. J.T. reported that his mother would call him "stupid" and tell him he could not do anything right. An investigation by the Department of Human Services (DHS) resulted in a founded child abuse report against the mother for inflicting a mental injury on her son. The juvenile court adjudicated J.T. as a child in need of assistance (CINA) in June 2010. At that time, Wendy reported to social workers that she suffered from a manic depressive disorder. The mother also explained she "hears voices" despite taking medication to address the problem. The DHS placed J.T. with relatives. The DHS also provided assistance to the family, including family

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safety, risk, and permanency services; parenting instruction; mental health evaluations and treatment; sibling contact; and family team meetings. Wendy underwent a psychological evaluation in August 2010. The

psychologist's report detailed a lengthy history of difficulty with her mental health. Her condition required hospitalization on five or six occasions, usually involving suicide attempts. The psychologist diagnosed Wendy as having schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and a personality disorder, not otherwise specified. He expressed concern about her hearing voices: She presents a lot of psychotic symptomatology. Particularly prominent are what sounds like a fairly fixed systemic delusional system involving communications from God. Of particular concern is her conviction that her youngest son is the Antichrist. While she does not seem to see this as posing a problem to her son, clearly it could pose a number of risks and problems. The evaluation recommended a STEPPS (Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving) program, which offers a cognitive-behavioral skills training approach. Instead of the STEPPS program, Wendy initially

pursued individual counseling. On October 25, 2010, the juvenile court held a hearing to review the progress of the case. Wendy was hospitalized at the time of the proceeding for "hearing voices and hallucinations." The DHS could not recommend J.T. be reunited with his mother "due to concerns about Wendy's mental health, and her unrealistic ideas about having the boys returned to her." Instead, the DHS

recommended J.T. remain in the care of his great aunt and uncle. Wendy's mental health stabilized after her hospitalization, but the social workers continued to worry about her long-term motivation and ability to attend to

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her psychological needs. She did not start the STEPPS program at the Abbe Center until December 2010. Wendy's visits with J.T. went well, but remained fully supervised during late 2010 and early 2011. The social workers expressed concern Wendy continued to report hearing voices on a "consistent and regular basis" including the persistent notion that J.T. was "the Antichrist" and that he will be "overcome with evil" in his early twenties. The social workers also told the court J.T. was "thriving" in his relative placement. The State filed a petition to terminate parental rights on May 13, 2011. At the June 30, 2011 termination hearing, the juvenile court heard testimony from two DHS case workers. The mother did not testify. On August 3, 2011, the court issued its ruling terminating the mother's parental rights based on the statutory grounds in Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(f) and (k) (2011). The court noted Wendy's mental health issues "only responded in a limited way to medication management" and she "has currently been missing counseling with her therapist." The court concluded: "Even when addressing her mental health

issues appropriately, she lacks the capacity to safely parent [J.T.]." The juvenile court also found termination was in J.T.'s best interests under the factors in Iowa Code section 232.116(2). On appeal, the mother argues the State did not present clear and convincing evidence to support either of the two statutory grounds for termination. When the juvenile court relies on more than one statutory ground, we need only find termination was appropriate under one of the grounds to affirm. In re D.W., 791 N.W.2d 703, 707 (Iowa 2010).

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We find termination to be proper under section 232.116(1)(f).

That

paragraph has four elements: (1) the child is four years of age or older; (2) the child has been adjudicated a CINA; (3) the child has been removed from the physical custody of the parent 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; and (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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