In the Interest of A.R. and M.R., Minor Children

── In the Interest of A.R. and M.R., Minor Children ── Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa Date: April 15, 2026 Category: General IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA _______________ No. 25-1788 Filed April 15, 2026 _______________ In the Interest of A.R. and M.R., Minor Children, A.R., Mother, Appellant. _______________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, The Honorable Susan Cox, Judge. _______________ AFFIRMED _______________ Lisa A. Allison of Youth Law Center, Des Moines, attorney for appellant mother. Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Mackenize L. Moran, Assistant Attorney General, attorneys for appellee State. Teresa M. Pope of Pope Law PLLC, Des Moines, attorney and guardian ad litem for minor children. _______________ Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Langholz, J. 1 LANGHOLZ, Judge. A mother appeals the juvenile court’s order terminating her parental rights to her then-one-year-old son and two-year-old daughter. 1 She challenges the statutory grounds for termination, the court’s denial of her request for six more months to work toward reunification, and an earlier order in the child-in-need-of-assistance proceedings modifying disposition to remove both children from the mother’s custody for placement with fictive kin or a foster family. On our de novo review, we agree with the juvenile court that despite the mother’s progress before the January 2025 removal, her conduct over the next nine months showed that the children could not be returned to her custody at the time of the termination hearing. It was not in the children’s best interests to delay permanency with a six-month extension to work toward reunification. And the mother’s challenge to the earlier modification order became moot after entry of the termination order, so we cannot consider it. We thus affirm the termination of the mother’s parental rights. I. Background Facts and Proceedings In January 2023, a newborn daughter was removed from the custody of her twenty-year-old mother days after her birth because both tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine. The daughter was placed with a foster family and eventually adjudicated as a child in need of assistance. Early on the mother was granted supervised visits and performed well in some instances but missed some visits and cut others short. The mother’s 1 We avoid using the parties’ names to respect their privacy because this opinion— unlike the juvenile court’s order—is public. Compare Iowa Code § 232.147(2) (2025), with id. §§ 602.4301(2), 602.5110; see also Iowa Ct. R. 21.25. 2 substance-use issues continued—she tested positive for methamphetamine and THC in March, all that plus cocaine in May, and THC again in June. Because of the mother’s lack of progress with her substance-use issues, in July the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recommended that the juvenile court tentatively schedule a termination hearing. But the mother improved her situation. She began participating in residential substance-use treatment at House of Mercy while also engaging in mental-health treatment and other services. And in August, after finding “The mother is working with House of Mercy and doing a great job!!!!!,” the court ordered a six-month extension for permanency “to allow the mother an opportunity to continue fully participating in services at the House of Mercy.” Visitation gradually increased. And the mother mostly progressed, with occasional setbacks—including a relapse using marijuana on Christmas Day 2023 while pregnant with her son. The