Five U.S. adoptees departed from Houston on Friday to reunite with their birth families in Chile for the first time. They were separated as infants decades ago during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
Among them, Ana Maria Haefmeyer, 36, expressed her anticipation, saying, "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." Haefmeyer, an administrative assistant from Minnesota, is one of the adoptees on the journey.
These individuals managed to locate their birth parents with the help of Connecting Roots, an NGO committed to reuniting Chilean adoptees with their biological families.
During Pinochet's regime (1973-1990), human rights organizations estimate that thousands of children were taken from their parents and placed with foreign families. Pinochet promoted adoptions as a means to alleviate poverty, with reports indicating that various professionals, including medical personnel, clergy, and judges, profited from the adoptions.
Tyler Graf, a Texas firefighter and an adoptee himself, founded Connecting Roots after discovering his own abduction at birth and successfully reconnecting with his birth family in Chile.
Utilizing DNA tests from MyHeritage, the NGO has assisted over 100 families in their search for loved ones following a similar initiative last year.
The five adoptees are scheduled to arrive in Chile on Saturday and will spend the next days reuniting with their families.
Haefmeyer shared her journey of searching for her birth mother, recounting that she had her mother's name on a piece of paper but had been unable to find her until she discovered her Chilean citizenship while changing her name after marriage. This revelation prompted her to approach Connecting Roots.
Excited yet nervous about the reunion, Haefmeyer mentioned her adoptive parents' supportive stance on her journey, acknowledging that the experience may help heal the emotional void she has felt throughout her life.