1. A juvenile court may close a child in need of assistance case by returning jurisdiction of the child‘s custody to the district court through an order modifying issues of legal custody, physical care, and parenting time if all of the following criteria have been met:

 a. The child has been adjudicated a child in need of assistance in an active juvenile court case, and a permanency order is in place in that case.
 b. Legal paternity has been established for the child.
 c. The child is safely unified with a parent.
 d. The district court has issued an order concerning custody, physical care, and parenting time regarding the child and the order is in place at the time of the filing of the child in need of assistance petition.
 e. The juvenile court has determined that the child in need of assistance case can safely close when the modified district court order for custody, physical care, and parenting time is in place.
 f. Either parent has qualified for a court-appointed attorney in the juvenile case.
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Terms Used In Iowa Code 232.103B

  • Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Child: means any person under the age of eighteen years. See Iowa Code 232.68
  • Child in need of assistance: means a child who has been found to meet the grounds for adjudication pursuant to section 232. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • clerk: means clerk of the court in which the action or proceeding is brought or is pending; and the words "clerk's office" mean the office of that clerk. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
  • Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Court: means the juvenile court established under section 602. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Juvenile: means the same as "child". See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Parent: means a biological or adoptive mother or father of a child; or a father whose paternity has been established by one of the methods enumerated in section 252A. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Party: means a petitioner, a respondent, or a person who intervenes in a proceeding instituted under this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Petition: means a pleading the filing of which initiates formal judicial proceedings in the juvenile court. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Petitioner: includes each dependent person for whom support is sought in a proceeding instituted pursuant to this chapter or a mother or putative father of a dependent. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Respondent: includes each person against whom a proceeding is instituted pursuant to this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
 2. When the criteria specified in subsection 1 are met, any party to a child in need of assistance proceeding in juvenile court may file a motion with the juvenile court for a bridge modification order as described in subsection 1. Such motion shall be set for hearing by the juvenile court no less than thirty days but not more than ninety days from the date of filing of the motion. The juvenile court, on its own motion, may set a hearing on the issue of the bridge modification order if such hearing is set no less than thirty days from the date of notice to the parties.
 3. Bridge modification orders shall only address legal custody, physical care, and parenting time. All other matters, including child support, shall be filed by separate petition in district court, and shall be subject to existing statutory requirements.
 4. Upon transferring jurisdiction, the clerk of court shall docket the bridge modification order in the current district court custodial order court file. The clerk of court shall not assess any filing fees or other court costs. The juvenile court shall follow the previously designated listing of the parties as petitioner and as respondent for the purposes of the bridge modification order.
 5. The district court shall take judicial notice of the current child in need of assistance case related to the bridge modification order, as well as any prior child in need of assistance cases relating to any prior bridge orders in any hearing related to the case. Records that are copied or transferred from the juvenile court file shall be subject to section 232.147 and other confidentiality provisions of this chapter for cases not involving juvenile delinquency. Such documents shall be disclosed, upon request, to child support services without a court order, subject to any statutory confidentiality provisions.
 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the appointment of counsel for the parties in the district court action.
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