232.81  Complaint.
  1.  Any person having knowledge of the circumstances may file a complaint with the person or agency designated by the court to perform intake duties alleging that a child is a child in need of assistance.
  2.  Upon receipt of a complaint, the court may request the department, juvenile probation office, or other authorized agency or individual to conduct a preliminary investigation of the complaint to determine if further action should be taken.
  3.  A petition alleging the child to be a child in need of assistance may be filed pursuant to section 232.87 provided the allegations of the complaint, if proven, are sufficient to establish the court’s jurisdiction and the filing is in the best interests of the child.
[SS15, §254-a15; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §3621; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §232.5; C71, 73, 75, 77, §232.3; C79, 81, §232.81]
83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 2011 Acts, ch 98, §6; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §613
Referred to in §232.21, 232.83
Subsection 2 amended