1. At any time after the petition is filed, any person who may file a petition under section 232.87 may apply for, or the court on its own motion may order, a hearing to determine whether the child should be temporarily removed from home. If the child is in the custody of a person other than the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian as the result of action taken pursuant to section 232.78 or 232.79, the court shall hold a hearing within ten days of the date of temporary removal to determine whether the temporary removal should be continued.
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Terms Used In Iowa Code 232.95

  • Adult: means a person other than a child. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Dispositional hearing: means a hearing held after an adjudication to determine what dispositional order should be made. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fictive kin: means an adult person who is not a relative of a child but who has an emotionally positive significant relationship with the child or the child's family. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • 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
  • Newborn infant: means the same as defined in section 233. 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
  • Reasonable and prudent parent standard: means the same as defined in section 237. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • relative: includes the parent of a sibling of the child if the sibling's parent's parental rights were not previously terminated in relation to the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
  • Shelter care: means the temporary care of a child in a physically unrestricting facility at any time between a child's initial contact with juvenile authorities and the final judicial disposition of the child's case. See Iowa Code 232.2
 2. Upon such hearing, the court may do any of the following:

 a. Return the child to a person with legal custody of the child pending a final order of disposition.
 b. Remove the child from home and place the child with a parent of the child pending a final order of disposition.
 c. Remove the child from home and place custody of the child with the department for placement of the child, pending a final order of disposition, in any of the following categories in the following order of priority:

 (1) An adult relative of the child including but not limited to adult siblings and parents of siblings.
 (2) A fictive kin.
 (3) Any other suitable placement identified by the child’s relatives.
 (4) An individual licensed to provide foster care pursuant to chapter 237. If the child is placed with a licensed foster care provider, the department shall assign decision-making authority to the foster care provider for the purpose of applying the reasonable and prudent parent standard during the child’s placement.
 (5) A group care facility, shelter care facility, or other residential treatment facility.
 d. Authorize a physician, physician assistant, or hospital to provide medical or surgical procedures if such procedures are necessary to safeguard the child’s life or health.
 3. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary including placement of custody of a child pursuant to subsection 2, if the hearing under this section is the result of a request for an ex parte order from the court pursuant to section 232.78 for a newborn infant for whom physical custody was relinquished pursuant to section 233.2, the court shall place custody of the child as provided in section 232.78, subsection 9, and proceed in accordance with chapter 233.
 4. The court shall make and file written findings as to the grounds for granting or denying an application under this section.
 5. If the court orders the child removed from the home pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph “b” or “c”, the court shall hold a hearing to review the removal order within six months unless a dispositional hearing pursuant to section 232.99 has been held.
 6. a. If the court orders a removal pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph “b” or “c”, the court shall, in addition, make a determination that continuation of the child in the child’s home would be contrary to the welfare of the child, and that reasonable efforts have been made to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child from the child’s home. The court shall also make a finding that substantial evidence exists to demonstrate that the need for removal due to an imminent risk to the child’s life or health is greater than the potential harm including but not limited to any physical, emotional, social, or mental trauma the removal may cause the child.

 b. The court’s determination regarding continuation of the child in the child’s home and regarding reasonable efforts, including those made to prevent removal and those made to finalize any permanency plan in effect as well as any determination by the court that reasonable efforts are not required, must be made on a case-by-case basis. The grounds for each determination must be specifically documented and stated in the court order. However, preserving the safety of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration. If imminent danger to the child’s life or health exists at the time of the court’s consideration, the determinations otherwise required under this paragraph shall not be a prerequisite for an order for temporary removal of the child.
 7. a. (1) If the court places custody of the child with the department pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph “c”, the court may identify a category listed in subsection 2, paragraph “c”, for placement of the child, but the department shall have the authority to select the specific person or facility within that category for placement, subject to court review at the request of an interested party.

 (2) The court shall give deference to the department’s decision for placement of a child. A party opposed to the department’s placement of a child shall have the burden to prove the department failed to act in the child’s best interests by unreasonably or irresponsibly failing to discharge its duties in selecting a suitable placement for the child.
 b. The court shall not order placement of a child in a category identified in subsection 2, paragraph “c”, subparagraph (2), (3), (4), or (5), without a specific finding that placement with an adult relative is not in the child’s best interests and providing reasons for the finding.
 c. If the court orders the removal of a child pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph “b” or “c”, the order shall also include a statement informing the child’s parent that the consequences of a permanent removal may include termination of the parent’s rights with respect to the child.
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