IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 22-0949 Filed August 31, 2022 IN THE INTEREST OF A.U. and J.U., Minor Children, F.B., Mother, Appellant, N.U., Father, Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Joan Black, District Associate Judge. A mother and father separately appeal the termination of their parental rights. AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS. Kristin L. Denniger of Denniger Law Firm, Mount Vernon, for appellant mother. Caleb T. Detweiler of Honohan, Epley, Braddock & Brenneman, LLP, Iowa City, for appellant father. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Ellen Ramsey-Kacena, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Anthony Haughton of Linn County Advocate Inc., Cedar Rapids, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor children. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Tabor and Badding, JJ. 2 BADDING, Judge. Parents who immigrated from Africa separately appeal the termination of their parental rights to the two youngest of their five children under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(h) (2022). Claiming that cultural differences were the motivating factor in terminating their parental rights, the parents challenge each of the three steps in the termination process. The father also claims he should have been granted more time to work toward reunification. We affirm. I. Background Facts and Proceedings Since 2013, this family has been the subject of sixteen child abuse investigations or assessments by the Iowa Department of Human Services. During many of these, the mother was left alone with the children while the father was in Africa for months at a time. The first report was made when the mother was in a car accident. After she was taken to the hospital, the mother told staff that she had left her eight-month-old child home alone while she went to the store. In 2016, the department investigated four reports about the family. In each, the mother reported she was overwhelmed with caring for the three children the family had then. Workers consistently noted the home was dirty, with dishes piled in the sink, food spilled on the floor, and pest infestations. A child-in-need-of- assistance case was filed that year and closed the following. Despite the services provided in the first case, the same issues continued to be reported to the department. In 2018, the family was living in a dilapidated trailer. A report was made that there was “a metal door frame laying in the home, garbage throughout the home, no windows in the home, [and] no utilities or 3 electricity.” The parents were also allowing the children “to freely roam the trailer park.” Services were again provided, but the reports continued. In the spring of 2019, a child protective worker with the department noted the home was “in disarray, with laundry covering the couch and floors,” and “dirty dishes stacked in the sink & counters, as well as mouse droppings in the windowsills.” Later that year, the oldest child was almost hit by a car while riding her bike in the street. When the police arrived to assist, they discovered the child had been …
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