Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court rules parents must be given preference in regaining custody of their kids who have been in the custody of guardians.
The ruling clarifies a new law — and involved a Story County woman who was 16 when she had the child and agreed to guardianship by the grandparents while she worked to get her life in order. The Supreme Court says parents still have fundamental interests in the care, custody, and control of their children — and the guardian must prove that terminating the guardianship would be harmful to the minor.
The ruling says it doesn’t make sense to require clear and convincing evidence to show a guardianship should be established for minor children without parental consent –but then require a lesser standard of proof when the guardianship was established with the parent’s consent and then revoked.
