In the Interest of L.T., Minor Child, A.t., Mother

Ottumwa, Iowa family law lawyer represented Mother in a termination of parental rights action.

This forty-year-old mother of five children first used methamphetamine when she was just fourteen years old. She has been battling her addiction ever since. In the years before her youngest child was born in September 2022, the mother had her parental rights to two of her children terminated. Her other two children were placed in their father's care through a juvenile court bridge order.



At this child's birth, the mother tested positive for amphetamines and marijuana. The infant was also exhibiting signs of withdrawal, including tremors and irritability, and his umbilical cord tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamines, and carboxy-THC. A report was made to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services which, after conducting a child protective assessment, allowed the child to remain in the mother's custody under a safety plan that

required a neighbor to supervise her contact with the infant. During the assessment, the mother told the child protective worker that "she is ready to get clean and she has never felt more ready to go to treatment."



The State filed a child-in-need-of-assistance petition in October, but because the mother was participating in services and doing well, the petition was dismissed in March 2023. The department continued to offer the mother services on a voluntary basis, but her participation soon declined. The mother was discharged from her mental-health therapy and started missing outpatient substance-use sessions. After dodging multiple drug tests, a sweat patch that was applied at the end of June came back positive for methamphetamine and amphetamines. The child was allowed to remain in the mother's custody under the neighbor's supervision, but the State filed a new petition in July. The next month, the mother entered an inpatient treatment facility that allowed her to bring the child with her. At her admission into treatment, the mother tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamines, and MDMA. She was discharged after just two weeks for smoking a cigarette when she was not supposed to. Because the department disagreed with the reason for the mother's discharge, and "she had sobriety underneath her," the child was not removed from her custody.



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Key Phrases Termination of parental rights. Substance-use treatment. Child-in-need-of-assistance petition. Statutory grounds for termination. Parent-child bond.

Affirmed