A man who was born in Iowa City in 1971 has lost his bid to find out who his biological parents are. Steven Drahozal, who was adopted in 1972, suffers from manic depression, and he wanted to find out if his condition was hereditary for a couple of reasons. First, he wanted to find out if his parents suffered from the same disease and were getting more effective treatment and he wanted to know if he might pass the disease on to his own kids. The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled the adoption records are to be kept sealed, as Drahozal’s medical condition is not endangering his life. Dan Boddicker of Tipton, a legislator who’s been involved in drafting adoption policy, says the court made the right decision to keep the adoption records closed.Boddicker says sometimes the circumstances of the pregnancy are too painful to revisit. Boddicker says a recent re-write of state law allows parents who give their kids up for adoption to choose an “open” adoption so medical records and names can be released.
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