R.B., Father, Appellant. v. << (2022)

Court of Appeals of Iowa.

In the INTEREST OF R.S., Minor Child, R.B., Father, Appellant.

No. 22-0196

Decided: September 21, 2022

Considered by Ahlers, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ. John Audlehelm of Audlehelm Law Office, Des Moines, for appellant father. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Ellen Ramsey-Kacena, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Nicole Garbis Nolan of the Youth Law Center, Des Moines, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor child.

The child, R.S., was born in 2021. The father was incarcerated at the time of the child's birth and remained incarcerated through the termination hearing that leads to this appeal. The juvenile court terminated the father's parental rights to the child under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(b) and (h) (2021).¹ The court also terminated the parental rights of the child's mother. Only the father appeals.

We review termination-of-parental-rights proceedings de novo. In re Z.K., 973 N.W.2d 27, 32 (Iowa 2022). The father raises only one issue—that the State failed to prove the statutory ground for termination by abandonment under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(b). He makes no challenge to termination under section 232.116(1)(h).

We need not address the father's challenge to termination under section 232.116(1)(b). When, as here, a parent's rights are terminated under multiple statutory grounds, we may affirm on any ground supported by the record. See In re A.B., 815 N.W.2d 764, 774 (Iowa 2012). As the father fails to challenge termination under section 232.116(1)(h), he waives any claim of error on that ground. See In re N.N., No. 21-1978, 2022 WL 610318, at *1 (Iowa Ct. App. Mar. 2, 2022) (holding failure to challenge one of the grounds for termination permits us to affirm on that ground without analyzing other grounds challenged). Accordingly, we affirm the juvenile court's ruling that termination is appropriate under section 232.116(1)(h). As the father makes no other challenge to the termination order, we affirm.

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

1.   The termination order states the father's parental rights were also terminated under section 232.116(1)(e). This appears to be a typographical error, as the court dismissed that ground during the termination hearing.

AHLERS, Presiding Judge.