Iowa Code Title VI. Human Services [Chs. 216-255A] § 232.53. Duration of dispositional orders

1. Any dispositional order entered by the court pursuant to section 232.52 shall remain in force for an indeterminate period or until the child becomes eighteen years of age unless otherwise specified by the court or unless sooner terminated pursuant to the provisions of section 232.54. No dispositional order made under section 232.52, subsection 2, paragraph “e”, shall remain in force longer than the maximum possible duration of the sentence which may be imposed on an adult for the commission of the act which the child has been found by the court to have committed.

2. All dispositional orders entered prior to the child attaining the age of seventeen years shall automatically terminate when the child becomes eighteen years of age, except as provided in subsection 3. Dispositional orders entered subsequent to the child attaining the age of seventeen years and prior to the child's eighteenth birthday shall automatically terminate one year and six months after the date of disposition. In the case of an adult within the jurisdiction of the court under the provisions of section 232.8, subsection 1, the dispositional order shall automatically terminate one year and six months after the last date upon which jurisdiction could attach.

3. A dispositional order entered prior to the child attaining the age of seventeen, for a child required to register as a sex offender pursuant to the provisions of chapter 692A, may be extended one year and six months beyond the date the child becomes eighteen years of age.

4. Notwithstanding section 233A.13, a child committed to the training school subsequent to the child attaining the age of seventeen years and prior to the child's eighteenth birthday may be held at the school beyond the child's eighteenth birthday pursuant to subsection 2 or 3, provided that the training school makes application to and receives permission from the committing court. This extension shall be for the purpose of completion by the child of a course of instruction established for the child pursuant to section 233A.4 and cannot extend for more than one year and six months beyond the date of disposition unless the duration of the dispositional order was extended pursuant to subsection 3.