600.5 Contents of an adoption petition.

550 words·~3 min read·/ia/chapter-600-adoption/600-5

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

An adoption petition shall be signed and verified by the petitioner, shall be filed with the juvenile court or court designated in section 600.3, and shall state:

1. The name, as it appears on the birth certificate or in a verified birth record or as it appears as a result of marriage, and the residence or domicile of the person to be adopted.

2. The date and place of birth of the person to be adopted.

3. Any new name requested to be given the person to be adopted.

4. The name, residence, and domicile of any guardian or custodian of the person to be adopted and the name, residence, and domicile of that person’s guardian ad litem if one is appointed for the adoption proceedings.

5. The name, residence, and domicile of the petitioner, if this is not required to be stated under subsection 4 of this section, and the date or expected date on which the person to be adopted, if a minor, began or will begin living with the petitioner.

6. The name, residence, and domicile of any parent of the person to be adopted.

7. A designation of the particular provision in section 600.4 under which the petitioner is qualified to adopt and, if under section 600.4, subsection 3, paragraph “c”, a request that the juvenile court or court approve the petitioner’s qualification to adopt.

8. Any name by which the petitioner is known or has been known.

9. The existence of any criminal conviction or deferred judgment for an offense other than a simple misdemeanor under a law of any state against the petitioner, and the existence of any founded child abuse report in which the petitioner is named.

10. If the parents of the person to be adopted had their parental rights terminated pursuant to chapter 232, the petition shall include the names of any known siblings placed separately from the person to be adopted and either the plan for ongoing contact between the siblings if a court found that continued contact is in the best interest of each sibling or a statement that the court found continued contact between the siblings is not in the best interest of each sibling.

11. A description and estimate of the value of any property owned by or held for the person to be adopted.

12. A description of the facilities and resources, including those provided under a subsidy agreement pursuant to sections 600.17 through 600.22, that the petitioner is willing and able to supply for the nurture and care of any minor person to be adopted.

13. When and where termination of parental rights pertaining to the person to be adopted has occurred, if termination was required under section 600.3.

14. Whether or not a guardian ad litem should be appointed for a minor child to be adopted, and if not, the reasons for that determination.

[R60, §2600; C73, §2307; C97, §3250; C24, §10496; C27, 31, 35, §10501-b1; C39, §10501.1; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, §600.1; C77, 79, 81, §600.5]

2000 Acts, ch 1145, §5, 6; 2006 Acts, ch 1029, §1; 2016 Acts, ch 1069, §1; 2017 Acts, ch 29, §158; 2021 Acts, ch 80, §350; 2022 Acts, ch 1096, §6; 2022 Acts, ch 1153, §13

Referred to in §600.3, 600.4, 600.8