A mom was reunited with her two kids — and she didn't know they were still alive. Sean Ours, 40, and Emily Ours Reid, 39, were born in Chile in the 1980s. As newborns, they were put up for adoption, but their biological mom was told her kids died during childbirth. According to Voice of America, thousands of Chilean kids were trafficked or adopted illegally from the 1960s to 1990s. This was especially common during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship from 1973 to 1990, the outlet reported.
It was common for "largely poor, young and indigenous women in vulnerable situations" to have their children taken from them, and sometimes, like in Sean and Emily's mom's case, the moms were told their babies had died, according to the outlet.
Tyler Graf started Connecting Roots, an organization that has helped Chileans reunite with their birth parents. Tyler was also stolen at birth and later reunited with his birth mother, ABC11 reported.
Connecting Roots also helped Emily and Sean reunite with their mom.
"The government was trying to eliminate the poor population, and they were taking babies from poor mothers and indigenous mothers or single mothers," Tyler told ABC11.
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Emily and Sean were adopted by an American couple. They grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and their parents tried to help them connect with their birth parents when they expressed interest as teenagers, People reported.
Emily and Sean grew up thinking that their mom gave them up for adoption because she couldn't provide for her children. When they tried to connect with their birth parents in high school, the search was not successful.
Then their adoptive mom started finding out more about what happened in Chile during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Learning about the illegal adoptions that happened during that time pushed her to reach out to Connecting Roots.
Connecting Roots and MyHeritage used DNA testing to identify Sean and Emily's biological mom, Sara. Sean and Emily learned that their mom had been told that her kids died, reported NBC4.
“It was very shocking realizing that we might have been sold, so to speak, against her will,” Sean told the outlet.
In November 2023, the siblings had a "very emotional" Zoom conversation with their biological mom, NBC4 reported. In February 2024, they traveled to Chile to meet her.
Ahead of the trip, Emily spoke to ABC11 about how she was feeling. "I am excited, nervous, anxious, scared, all sorts of emotions," she told the outlet.
Once they arrived in Santiago, Chile, the emotions they felt were "overwhelming," the siblings told People.
"I knew this is what I was waiting for all my life. [Our mom] thought we were dead. She never got to hold us, and so this was our first true time holding each other. It was so momentous," Emily told People.
