Terms Used In Iowa Code 232.147

• Adult: means a person other than a child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Child: means any person under the age of eighteen years. See Iowa Code 232.68
• 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
• 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
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Court: means the juvenile court established under section 602. See Iowa Code 232.2
• 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 appointed special advocate: means a person duly certified by the child advocacy board created in section 237. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Custodian: means a stepparent or a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity to a child who has assumed responsibility for that child, a person who has accepted a release of custody pursuant to subchapter IV, or a person appointed by a court or juvenile court having jurisdiction over a child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Delinquent act: means :
   a. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Department: means the department of health and human services and includes the local and county offices of the department. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 249L.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
• Foster care: means the provision of parental nurturing, including but not limited to the furnishing of food, lodging, training, education, supervision, treatment, or other care, to a child on a full-time basis by a person, including an adult relative or fictive kin of the child, and where the child is under the placement, care, or supervision of the department, juvenile court services, or tribes with whom the department has entered into an agreement pursuant to a court order or voluntary placement, but not including a guardian of the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Guardian: means a person who is not the parent of a child, but who has been appointed by a court having jurisdiction over the child, to have a permanent self-sustaining relationship with the child and to make important decisions which have a permanent effect on the life and development of that child and to promote the general welfare of that child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Guardian ad litem: means a person appointed by the court to represent the interests of a child in any judicial proceeding to which the child is a party. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Institution: means a birthing hospital. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Intake: means the preliminary screening of complaints by an intake officer to determine whether the court should take some action and if so, what action. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Intake officer: means a juvenile court officer or other officer appointed by the court to perform the intake function. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Internet: means the federated international system that is composed of allied electronic communication networks linked by telecommunication channels, that uses standardized protocols, and that facilitates electronic communication services, including but not limited to use of the world wide web; the transmission of electronic mail or messages; the transfer of files and data or other electronic information; and the transmission of voice, image, and video. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Judge: means the judge of a juvenile court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• 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
• Juvenile court officer: means a person appointed as a juvenile court officer under section 602. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile diversion program: means an organized effort to coordinate services for a child who is alleged to have committed a delinquent act, when the organized effort results in the dismissal of a complaint alleging the commission of the delinquent act or results in informally proceeding without a complaint being filed against the child, and which does not result in an informal adjustment agreement involving juvenile court services or the filing of a delinquency petition. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• official records: means official records of the court of proceedings over which the court has jurisdiction under this chapter which includes but is not limited to the following:
   a. 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
• person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Petition: means a pleading the filing of which initiates formal judicial proceedings in the juvenile court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Preadoptive care: means the provision of parental nurturing on a full-time basis to a child in foster care by a person who has signed a preadoptive placement agreement with the department for the purposes of proceeding with a legal adoption of the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation: means a legal status which is created by a dispositional order of the court in a case where a child has been adjudicated to have committed a delinquent act, which exists for a specified period of time, and which places the child under the supervision of a juvenile court officer or other person or agency designated by the court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• social records: means all records made with respect to a child in connection with proceedings over which the court has jurisdiction under this chapter other than official records and includes but is not limited to the records made and compiled by intake officers, predisposition reports, and reports of physical and mental examinations. See Iowa Code 232.2
• state: means the general interest held by the people in the health, safety, welfare, and protection of all children living in this state. See Iowa Code 232.90
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Voluntary placement: means a foster care placement in which the department provides foster care services to a child according to a signed placement agreement between the department and the child's parent or guardian. See Iowa Code 232.2