Stolen child reunited with birth family
 

A terrible story with a happy end:

https://blog.myheritage.com/2022/12/..._date=20230122

Oh wow, thank you Mary. How can people be so wicked?

OC

Shocking.

Would the removal of 50,000 babies, presumably over several years, from a country with a population of 20m really constitute "a sinister political campaign to control population growth". I would have thought it was all about money, surely?

As the woman has eight surviving siblings, it was clearly not a successful campaign!

Chile would have been under a military dictatorship at the time (Pinochet was President).

I do remember hearing rumours in Italy in the early 80s that this sort of thing was going on, and people were discouraged from adopting children from South America (I don't remember whether Chile was specifically mentioned).

It's not unlike the story of the British Home Children sent to Canada, and the Stolen Generations of Australian aborigenes.

Perhaps her mother gave birth to them all at home, to keep them out of the clutches of the hospital.

Yes, I thought money would be the prime factor.

I remember seeing a documentary about Chinese twins adopted separately. Money changed hands to "cover the paperwork ", thousands of ££££. By some fluke, the two adoptive mothers met and realised they had adopted twins - both mothers said they would gladly have adopted twins if they had known. The two families now make sure the twins are very involved in each other's lives, even though they live in different continents. I take my hat off to them.

The Irish Catholic church also sold babies, without the permission of the mothers, who had no rights anyway.

OC

What a horrible story with a lovely outcome. I have tears in my eyes.

To have 2 babies stolen would be horrendous and not having the money or ability to fight it would be heartbreaking.

I'm so glad the adopted Mum was welcomed into the family too.