In re Interest of R.D.

• Decision Date: 11 March 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15–1198.,15–1198.
• Citation: 876 N.W.2d 786
• Parties: In the Interest of R.D. R.D., Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

876 N.W.2d 786

In the Interest of R.D. R.D., Appellant.

No. 15–1198.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 11, 2016.

Peter J. Gardner of Meardon, Sueppel & Downer, P.L.C., Iowa City, for appellant.

WATERMAN, Justice.

Fifty years ago, a married couple gave up their newborn daughter for adoption. The adoption records were sealed. Today, we must decide whether the juvenile court correctly construed and applied Iowa Code section 600.16A(2)(d ) (2015) when it denied the adoptee's application to unseal those records to identify her biological parents.

A loving adoptive family raised the adoptee, but she struggles with depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse. She presented evidence that her ignorance of her biological family's history is a root cause of her mental health problems and that learning the identities of her biological parents would assist her treatment. The juvenile court found she met her evidentiary burden to establish that opening the adoption records is necessary to save her life or prevent irreparable physical or mental harm to her. The district court examined the adoption records in camera, found no relevant medical information other than her biological parents' identities, and ruled the statute precluded release of their names. The biological parents have filed no affidavit or consent to disclosure of their identities. The adoptee appealed, and we retained her appeal. For the reasons explained below, we determine this adoptee failed to meet her burden to overcome the statutory protection for the confidentiality of the identity of biological parents.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

R.D., now age fifty-one, was born in Iowa in 1965. R.D.'s biological parents consented to her adoption and waived notice of any further proceedings. R.D. was adopted a few days later, and the adoption records were sealed pursuant to Iowa Code section 600.9 (1962), which stated, "The complete record in adoption proceedings, after filing with the clerk of the court, shall be sealed by said clerk, and the record shall not thereafter be opened except on order of the court." The adoption statute in 1965 contained no provision allowing biological parents to file an affidavit consenting or objecting to disclosure of their identities. The biological parents have not been contacted in the pending proceeding, nor have they filed any consent form or affidavit regarding their position on disclosure.

R.D.'s adoptive family was loving and supportive. When R.D. turned six, her adoptive parents told her she was adopted. As she grew up, R.D. felt the "loss of [her] biological family" and "the loss of [her] own parents not having given birth to [her.]" Most importantly, she "felt like somebody gave [her] up" because they did not love her. She became obsessed with being the "best of everything" to avoid being abandoned again. R.D. achieved academic success, earning advanced degrees and induction into Phi Beta Kappa. Today she is on the faculty teaching at a prestigious university in another state and has been married to a supportive husband for several decades.

R.D.'s "lack of knowledge about her origins increasingly caused anxiety and depression." R.D. began self-medicating with alcohol in her thirties. In 2007, R.D. voluntarily checked herself into the Hazelden Rehabilitation Center in Center City, Minnesota. During a four-week inpatient program, she was introduced to a twelve-step program. She successfully completed her course of treatment. When she returned to her home, she became an active member in Alcoholics Anonymous with a sponsor.

In 2008, R.D. relapsed for the first time. She continued to work on her sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous and with therapists, but she was unable to maintain prolonged sobriety. Each relapse involved drinking more and taking longer to regain sobriety. She missed meetings, important social events, and professional deadlines during her relapses.

In May 2013, R.D. began seeing G.P. Zurenda Jr., a psychiatric social worker, to address her alcohol abuse. Zurenda diagnosed R.D. with alcohol dependence, anxiety disorder, and depression. Zurenda administered the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test to R.D., and her score indicated alcohol dependence. She scheduled regular appointments with Zurenda. R.D. occasionally canceled her appointments because she had been drinking. R.D. felt she had a "hole in [her] soul."

In June 2014, R.D. began seeing Dr. Anthony J. Pane Jr., a psychologist specializing in anxiety, depression, relationship problems, and substance abuse. R.D. sought out Dr. Pane because almost half of his practice was devoted to adoptees. Dr. Pane conducted a clinical interview and diagnosed R.D. with depression and alcohol dependence. Dr. Pane viewed R.D.'s adoption as the issue underlying her substance abuse and depression. Dr. Pane suggested she should try to identify her parents.

On August 1, R.D. wrote a letter to the Linn County District Court to ask for her adoption records to be unsealed. She wrote that she was seeking the records "due to significant medical issues, the short- and long-term management of which could be altered by a knowledge of [her] family medical history." On August 15, the district court denied R.D.'s request. The district court indicated that it had reviewed the file and found that there was no medical and developmental history or family medical history in the adoption record. The district court concluded that R.D.'s request was insufficient to warrant releasing the identities of R.D.'s biological parents.

On March 16, 2015, she wrote another letter to the Linn County District Court asking the court to open her adoption records. She indicated that her physicians and other health care providers recommended that she learn the identities of her birth parents "due to critical medical issues related to [her] short- and long-term health." She attached letters from her primary care physician, Dr. Orli Etingin, as well as from Zurenda, and Dr. Pane.

Dr. Etingin's letter stated that R.D. "has suffered from depression and alcohol dependence in the past." R.D.'s episodes of severe anxiety affected her work, family, and personal relationships. Dr. Etingin stated that R.D.'s "lack of information about her biologic family has impaired [her caregivers'] ability to care for her, and her ability to recover." R.D.'s risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke were all increased because of her stress. Dr. Etingin wrote she believed "it is medically essential that [R.D.] be given access to family history information."

Zurenda wrote that R.D. had made progress since he began working with her in 2013. He noted that she was currently abstinent and active in Alcoholics Anonymous. Zurenda stated that his "experience and extensive research shows that correctly identifying the etiology of one's alcoholism is very important in improving the odds of a person[']s continuing recovery from the disease." He said that knowing the root of R.D.'s alcoholism was essential because she had cooccurring disorders—depression and anxiety. Zurenda concluded that discovery of R.D.'s family history was essential to treat her alcoholism.

Dr. Pane's letter reported that R.D. was "highly gifted [and] highly successful ... with a very supportive husband and adoptive family." However, he said he believed the "root of her mental health challenges" was her lack of knowledge about her biological parents. He "believe[d] that knowledge of her history will be the breakthrough essential for her mental health." Dr. Pane's letter also stated that he was confident that R.D. would handle learning her parents' identities in a "reasoned, sensitive and responsible manner."

In addition to those three letters, R.D. submitted deposition testimony of Dr. Pane and Zurenda regarding her need to know her parents' identities.¹ Dr. Pane opined that R.D. was unable to compartmentalize her feelings of loss from her adoption. He believed R.D. would resume drinking if the court refused to release the identities of R.D.'s biological parents. Dr. Pane described her adoption, drinking, and depression as links in an interconnected chain and asserted that R.D. would need to know the identity of her parents to maintain her sobriety and avoid a deep depression.

Zurenda described R.D. as a "closet drinker" because she would drink in secret instead of attending to her professional obligations. R.D.'s drinking binges had worsened after her inpatient treatment in 2007, but R.D. had been abstinent in recent months. Zurenda opined that if R.D. was unable to maintain sobriety, she would need a liver transplant. He also reported that R.D. described her adoptive parents positively. Zurenda explained that he was unable to complete a biopsychosocial assessment for R.D. without the identity of R.D.'s biological parents. He testified that R.D.'s diagnosis might change based on her extended family's history. Zurenda said he was worried that if R.D. did not learn the identity of her parents, she would continue to relapse. Zurenda noted her need to know her biological parents' identities was based on more than just curiosity:

I think that she's developing the awareness that she does have—her alcohol abuse dependence is a true medical problem that she's not being able to deal with on her own. Quite honestly, I think if she had her preferences, she wouldn't even really be looking at the issue. It's something that has to be addressed.

Throughout his deposition, he emphasized that R.D. had a strong desire to quit drinking. In sum, Zurenda said:

Addiction is a complicated calculus, and because I am very confident of my sense of her true desire to refrain from drinking, it is my informed belief that she continues to relapse and has over the past eight years—eight plus years that she's doing that to a large degree because she's having a difficult time finding a sense of self.

This is a very high-functioning, very intelligent, very well-educated, very competent and self-possessed woman on most levels, but

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