Five of Chile's stolen children take off to reunite with birth families

By Reuters
February 22, 20252:03 PM CSTUpdated a day ago

HOUSTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Five U.S. adoptees took off from Houston on Friday to reunite with their birth families in Chile for the first time after they were stolen as infants decades ago during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.

I will finally get to meet the person that brought me into this world and I get to see where I get my energy from and who I look like," said Ana Maria Haefmeyer, 36, an administrative assistant from Minnesota and one of the adoptees on the flight.

Haefmeyer and the others were able to find their birth parents thanks to efforts from Connecting Roots, an NGO dedicated to reuniting Chilean adoptees with their birth families.

Human rights groups estimate that thousands of children were stolen from their birth parents during Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 until 1990, and adopted to foreign families.

Pinochet encouraged adoptions to reduce poverty while medical professionals, clergy, judges and others are believed to have profited off the adoptions.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/five-chiles-stolen-children-take-off-reunite-with-birth-families-2025-02-22/