IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 17-1902
Filed January 24, 2018
IN THE INTEREST OF H.S.,
Minor Child,
D.F., Mother,
Appellant.
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Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph W. Seidlin,
District Associate Judge.
A mother appeals a juvenile court order terminating her parental rights to
her child. AFFIRMED.
John C. Heinicke of Kragnes & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for
appellant mother.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Mary A. Triick, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellee State.
Kayla A. Stratton of Juvenile Public Defender Office, Des Moines,
guardian ad litem for minor child.
Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.
2
MULLINS, Judge.
A mother appeals a juvenile court order terminating her parental rights to
her child, born in 2016. She does not challenge the State’s establishment of the
statutory grounds for termination. Instead, she contends the juvenile court erred
in failing to consider whether termination was in the best interest of the child and
declining to apply a statutory exception to termination.
At the termination hearing, the mother testified to her agreement that her
parental rights should be terminated as to the child involved in this appeal, H.S.
She only requested and argued that her rights should not be terminated as to
another of her children, A.S. The juvenile court noted in its ruling that the mother
“recognizes the barriers to maintaining her parental rights as to [H.S.], and does
not contest the termination of her rights as to that child. She does, however,
seek to maintain her parental rights as to [A.S].” Under these circumstances, the
mother cannot be heard on appeal to complain about a ruling she agreed was
appropriate. See, e.g., Jasper v. State, 477 N.W.2d 852, 856 (Iowa 1991)
(noting a litigant “cannot deliberately act so as to invite error and then object
because the court has accepted the invitation”); Odegard v. Gregerson, 12
N.W.2d 559, 562 (Iowa 1944) (same); State v. Campbell, No. 16-0550, 2017 WL
2464070, at *9 (Iowa Ct. App. June 7, 2017) (same). We therefore affirm the
termination of her parental rights.
AFFIRMED.