Iowa Code 232.158A – Legal risk placement
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1. Notwithstanding any provision of the interstate compact on the placement of children under section 232.158 to the contrary, the department shall permit the legal risk placement of a child under the interstate compact on the placement of children if the prospective adoptive parent provides a legal risk statement, in writing, acknowledging all of the following:
a. That the placement is a legal risk placement.
b. That the court of the party state of the sending agency retains jurisdiction over the child for purposes of the termination of the parental rights of the biological parents.
c. That if termination of parental rights cannot be accomplished in accordance with applicable laws, the child shall be promptly returned to the party state of the sending agency to be returned to the child’s biological parent or placed as deemed appropriate by a court of the party state of the sending agency.
d. That the prospective adoptive parent assumes full legal, financial, and other risks associated with the legal risk placement and that the prospective adoptive parent agrees to hold the department harmless for any disruption or failure of the placement.
e. That the prospective adoptive parent shall provide support and medical and other appropriate care to the child pending the termination of parental rights of the biological parents and shall assume liability for all costs associated with the return of the child to the party state of the sending agency if the placement is disrupted or fails.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 232.158A
- 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
- 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
- Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 249L.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
- 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.
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- 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
- 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
2. Any written legal risk statement utilized in establishing a legal risk placement shall, at a minimum, state all of the information required under subsection 1, shall be signed by any prospective adoptive parent, and shall be notarized. The legal risk statement shall also contain the following notice printed in clearly legible type:
If termination of parental rights is not accomplished and return of the child to the biological parent is required, the prospective adoptive parents are encouraged to seek mental health counseling to address any resulting psychological or family problems.
3. For the purposes of this section, “legal risk placement” means the placement of a child, who is to be adopted, with a prospective adoptive parent prior to the termination of parental rights of the biological parents, under which the prospective adoptive parent assumes the risk that if the parental rights of the biological parents are not terminated the child shall be returned to the biological parents or placed as deemed appropriate by a court of the party state of the sending agency, and under which the prospective adoptive parent assumes other risks and liabilities specified in a written agreement.