MIAMI (AP) — Kyle Adler’s discovery that he was stolen from his Chilean mother as a baby came as a shock, sparking an identity crisis that lasted years and led to a reunion with his biological mother earlier this year.
It’s been so eye‑opening to see who my people are, Adler said. I feel the love, I feel the compassion, the care — it’s nice to have a family again.
Adopted by an American family when he was nine months old, the 36‑year‑old is one of thousands of children who were stolen from Chilean families during the 17‑year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and among hundreds who have been reunited with their birth families thanks to DNA tracing and organizations that are helping Chilean adoptees investigate their pasts. Others are also working toward justice for the families ripped apart.
The American family that adopted Adler in 1990 raised him in an affluent Chicago suburb.
He grew up to be an over‑achiever who, in adulthood, wanted more meaning in his life. Suddenly, now I found myself where I didn’t know what to do. I knew I was adopted and at that point, I was just like, I need to find my mom, he said.
Adler’s biological mother, Ana Maria Navarrete, was a 19‑year‑old single parent working nights at a fish shop in the seaside city of Coronel, some 533 kilometres (331 miles) south of the capital. She had named him Marcos Antonio Navarrete.
She could only afford a room for herself, so she hired a woman who took Adler into her home as a baby and looked after him. Navarrete told the Associated Press she visited him whenever she was not working. One day, the caregiver told her he was taken by an American couple after a local priest made arrangements for a baby in need of a family. She was furious and ashamed when she realised her son had been removed.
A police investigator said the baby had likely been taken as part of a wide‑reaching counterfeit adoption network that involved adoption agencies, immigration officials, judges, nurses and even doctors. No one was held accountable, and those years afterward were some of the worst of her life.
Justice for the poor did not exist in Chile and it still does not, said Constanza Del Rio, founder and executive director of Nos Buscamos, a nonprofit organisation that compiles online data for thousands of cases. The government estimates more than 20,000 children were stolen from families.
Children of the poor and Indigenous populations were targeted during the Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990, said Jimmy Lippert Thyden González, a human‑rights lawyer who was also illegally adopted. It was an effort to eliminate and eradicate the poor class. It was a way of eradicating the Indigenous population, the uneducated population, he said.
In early 2017, Adler came across the Nos Buscamos Facebook group while Googling the term Chilean birth mom search. He messaged Del Rio, and within three months she confirmed his origin story and organised a virtual reunion. Initially, Adler felt crushed to find out he had been adopted illegally, sending him into years of therapy. After a year of preparation, he finally felt ready for answers.
A DNA test provided by genealogy platform MyHeritage confirmed a match between Adler and 56‑year‑old Navarrete of Santiago, making it official. MyHeritage partners with Nos Buscamos and Connecting Roots and other nonprofits to provide free at‑home DNA kits for Chilean adoptees and suspected victims of child trafficking.
Tyler Graf, founder and CEO of Connecting Roots, travelled with Adler. Graf had also reunited with his birth mother Hilda Quezada Godoy decades after being taken, and says it is now his mission to track others taken from families in Chile. Now it’s time to mend these families and bring everyone back home so they can see where they came from, he told the AP.
Human‑rights lawyer Lippert Thyden González sued the Chilean government three years ago and hopes to lead the fight all the way to the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights. He also founded Grafting Hope, a nonprofit focused on educating U.S. lawmakers and fighting for the rights of survivors of counterfeit adoptions.
Navarrete, who has been working with a law firm and hopes those involved will get jail time, told the AP her new wish was I want justice. After reuniting with her son, she said she was hopeful the family would reunite again in December.
The reunion took place two days after Navarrete’s 56th birthday on Valentine’s Day. The emotional encounter took place at the international arrivals gate in Chile, where tears flowed as Aden finally met his mother. Both wore white; Navarrete ran to embrace him, and he buried his face in her hair.
I’m so happy to be finally meeting him, my dream has finally come true, Navarrete said. The week together included visits to the beach in Coronel, the hospital where he was born and the house where he was taken from. They recovered a copy of his original birth certificate and he met one of his four siblings in Chile, while in Miami he had previously met another sister and her daughter.
In Santiago, they also enjoyed keepsakes Adler brought: a framed graduation diploma, childhood photographs and a pair of baby shoes his adoptive parents had kept. As Adler is not a Spanish speaker, the Connecting Roots team provided a translator, and translation apps are now helping them continue the conversation.
Navarrete said the time spent with her son was joyful, but it also made her relive much of the pain of the past 35 years. It took me so long to find him. And then to spend a week together only to have him leave, it’s like I found him but I’ve now lost him all over again, she said amid tears. She hopes the family will reunite in December, while Adler says the road to forgiveness continues, but he hopes Navarrete can let go of the trauma.
I’m not just the son that you lost, I’m the son that you found. I’m back to being your son, he said.}
It’s been so eye‑opening to see who my people are, Adler said. I feel the love, I feel the compassion, the care — it’s nice to have a family again.
Adopted by an American family when he was nine months old, the 36‑year‑old is one of thousands of children who were stolen from Chilean families during the 17‑year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and among hundreds who have been reunited with their birth families thanks to DNA tracing and organizations that are helping Chilean adoptees investigate their pasts. Others are also working toward justice for the families ripped apart.
The American family that adopted Adler in 1990 raised him in an affluent Chicago suburb.
He grew up to be an over‑achiever who, in adulthood, wanted more meaning in his life. Suddenly, now I found myself where I didn’t know what to do. I knew I was adopted and at that point, I was just like, I need to find my mom, he said.
Adler’s biological mother, Ana Maria Navarrete, was a 19‑year‑old single parent working nights at a fish shop in the seaside city of Coronel, some 533 kilometres (331 miles) south of the capital. She had named him Marcos Antonio Navarrete.
She could only afford a room for herself, so she hired a woman who took Adler into her home as a baby and looked after him. Navarrete told the Associated Press she visited him whenever she was not working. One day, the caregiver told her he was taken by an American couple after a local priest made arrangements for a baby in need of a family. She was furious and ashamed when she realised her son had been removed.
A police investigator said the baby had likely been taken as part of a wide‑reaching counterfeit adoption network that involved adoption agencies, immigration officials, judges, nurses and even doctors. No one was held accountable, and those years afterward were some of the worst of her life.
Justice for the poor did not exist in Chile and it still does not, said Constanza Del Rio, founder and executive director of Nos Buscamos, a nonprofit organisation that compiles online data for thousands of cases. The government estimates more than 20,000 children were stolen from families.
Children of the poor and Indigenous populations were targeted during the Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990, said Jimmy Lippert Thyden González, a human‑rights lawyer who was also illegally adopted. It was an effort to eliminate and eradicate the poor class. It was a way of eradicating the Indigenous population, the uneducated population, he said.
In early 2017, Adler came across the Nos Buscamos Facebook group while Googling the term Chilean birth mom search. He messaged Del Rio, and within three months she confirmed his origin story and organised a virtual reunion. Initially, Adler felt crushed to find out he had been adopted illegally, sending him into years of therapy. After a year of preparation, he finally felt ready for answers.
A DNA test provided by genealogy platform MyHeritage confirmed a match between Adler and 56‑year‑old Navarrete of Santiago, making it official. MyHeritage partners with Nos Buscamos and Connecting Roots and other nonprofits to provide free at‑home DNA kits for Chilean adoptees and suspected victims of child trafficking.
Tyler Graf, founder and CEO of Connecting Roots, travelled with Adler. Graf had also reunited with his birth mother Hilda Quezada Godoy decades after being taken, and says it is now his mission to track others taken from families in Chile. Now it’s time to mend these families and bring everyone back home so they can see where they came from, he told the AP.
Human‑rights lawyer Lippert Thyden González sued the Chilean government three years ago and hopes to lead the fight all the way to the Inter‑American Court of Human Rights. He also founded Grafting Hope, a nonprofit focused on educating U.S. lawmakers and fighting for the rights of survivors of counterfeit adoptions.
Navarrete, who has been working with a law firm and hopes those involved will get jail time, told the AP her new wish was I want justice. After reuniting with her son, she said she was hopeful the family would reunite again in December.
The reunion took place two days after Navarrete’s 56th birthday on Valentine’s Day. The emotional encounter took place at the international arrivals gate in Chile, where tears flowed as Aden finally met his mother. Both wore white; Navarrete ran to embrace him, and he buried his face in her hair.
I’m so happy to be finally meeting him, my dream has finally come true, Navarrete said. The week together included visits to the beach in Coronel, the hospital where he was born and the house where he was taken from. They recovered a copy of his original birth certificate and he met one of his four siblings in Chile, while in Miami he had previously met another sister and her daughter.
In Santiago, they also enjoyed keepsakes Adler brought: a framed graduation diploma, childhood photographs and a pair of baby shoes his adoptive parents had kept. As Adler is not a Spanish speaker, the Connecting Roots team provided a translator, and translation apps are now helping them continue the conversation.
Navarrete said the time spent with her son was joyful, but it also made her relive much of the pain of the past 35 years. It took me so long to find him. And then to spend a week together only to have him leave, it’s like I found him but I’ve now lost him all over again, she said amid tears. She hopes the family will reunite in December, while Adler says the road to forgiveness continues, but he hopes Navarrete can let go of the trauma.
I’m not just the son that you lost, I’m the son that you found. I’m back to being your son, he said.}
