When Kyle Adler discovered that he had been abducted by his Chilean mother as an infant he was devastated, while at the same time triggering an identity crisis that lasted for years. However, his search led him to an emotional reunion with his biological mother this year.
The 36-year-old, who was adopted by an American family at the age of 9 months, is one of thousands of children stolen from families during the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. He is also one of hundreds who have been reunited with their biological families, thanks to DNA identification and the work of organizations that help adoptees from Chile research their past.
At the same time, the fight for justice for the families that were violently separated continues.
The American family that adopted Adler in 1990 raised him in an affluent suburb of Chicago.
“My parents didn’t steal me, nor did they name me Kyle out of spite. They saw me as what they wanted me to be and gave me a lot of love,” Adler said of his adoptive parents. He believes neither of them knew the true circumstances of his adoption, though he said they were initially unsupportive of his decision to find his biological mother, before they passed away in 2022.
“Suddenly I was at a point where I didn’t know what to do. I knew I was adopted, I just wanted to find my mom.”
Rapture day
Adler’s biological mother, Ana Maria Navarrete, was a 19-year-old single mother who worked nights at a fishmonger in the coastal town of Coronel, about 533 kilometers south of the capital. She had named her son Marcos Antonio Navarrete.
Due to financial constraints, she could only rent one room for herself. So she entrusted Adler to a woman who looked after him in her home, with her visiting him at every opportunity. Until the day her nanny announced that a local priest had interceded for the baby to be given to an American couple who were “looking for a child”.
“And she let them take him,” Navarrete told the AP, filled with rage and shame. It is noted that the AP has not been able to independently verify all the details of the incident.
A police investigator later explained to her that the baby had likely been the victim of an extensive illegal adoption network involving adoption agencies, immigration officials, judges, nurses and even doctors.
No one was ever held accountable, Navarrete said, adding, “The years that followed were some of the worst of my life.” Without family support, she eventually came to terms with the idea that she would never get her son back.
“There was no justice for the poor”
“Justice for the poor did not exist in Chile and continues to not exist,” said Constanza Del Rio, founder and CEO of Nos Buscamos, a nonprofit organization that maintains an online database of thousands of such cases. It is estimated that more than 20,000 children were stolen from their families.
Children from poor families and indigenous peoples were the main targets during the Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990, explained Jimmy Lippert Thaiden Gonzalez, who was also illegally adopted and is now a human rights lawyer.
“It was an attempt to eliminate the poor class. A way to exterminate the population of natives and uneducated people,” he noted.
Unraveling the thread of the past
In early 2017, Adler discovered the “Nos Buscamos” Facebook page by searching on Google and messaged Del Rio. Within three months, the organization confirmed his story and arranged a first online meeting.
At first, the news that his adoption was illegal devastated Adler, plunging him into an identity crisis that required years of psychotherapy, until last year he finally felt ready for answers.
A DNA test from MyHeritage confirmed Adler’s relationship with Navarrete, 56, of Santiago. The company, together with the organizations “Nos Buscamos” and “Connecting Roots”, offers free DNA tests to Chilean adoptees and potential victims of trafficking.
At the same time, lawyer Lippert Thaiden Gonzalez filed a lawsuit against the Chilean government three years ago, intending to take the case all the way to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He also founded the organization “Grafting Hope” with the purpose of informing American legislators and asserting the rights of survivors.
The Chilean government did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment.
“I want justice. Not just for me, but for him, because I don’t know what kind of life he lived,” Navarrete said days after meeting her son, now working with a law firm in hopes of bringing those responsible to prison.
The shocking reunion
“My birth mother just wanted to know I was alive,” Adler said before boarding the flight from Miami last February. The two met two days after her 56th birthday, on Valentine’s Day, with the AP camera capturing the moment.
The tears flowed non-stop when Adler walked through the international arrivals gate in Chile. Mother and son, dressed in white, fell into each other’s arms. “I’m so happy to finally meet him, my dream came true,” Navarrete said.
The emotionally charged reunion continued with a packed week, during which they visited the beach in Coronel, the hospital where Adler was born and the home where he was taken. They even managed to recover a copy of his original birth certificate, while he met one of his four siblings.
As Adler does not speak Spanish, the organization “Connecting Roots” provided a translator, and now their communication continues through translation apps.
Navarrete said spending time with her son was full of joy, but it also made her relive the pain of the past 35 years. “It took me so long to find him. And then to spend only a week together and for him to have to leave… it’s like I found him and lost him all over again,” she said through tears, hoping they would be reunited in December.
For Adler, the road to forgiveness continues, but he hopes his mother can overcome the trauma. “I’m no longer just the son you lost, I’m the son you found. I am your son again,” he told her.
