Name: What happened to Chile’s lost children? | BBC News
Uploaded: 2025-07-19T17:58:16.000Z
Duration: 7 min 27 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

How do you go about finding a long-lost relative when you don't know where they are in the world, what they're called now, what they look like, or if they're even still alive?

Some hope that modern DNA testing is the answer, but we've been exploring some of the problems with that technology.

Basic passive voice

I'm in Chile's capital, Santiago, to meet families whose children were taken away from them during the country's brutal military dictatorship.

Some of them grew up thousands of miles away from here in Europe or the US, and many families still don't have answers.

Three generations of this family have gathered to celebrate.

I haven't lost faith that someday I'll see my son.

Maria's son Christian is one of the tens of thousands of children from poorer families who were illegally taken from their parents during Chile's dictatorship.

Many were kidnapped, trafficked and put up for adoption abroad.

I was living here with my three children, Ariel, Ingrid and Christian, who was taken.

The social worker at the clinic told me he had to be treated.

One morning, around 6am, two young ladies and a man arrived dressed in white while I was breastfeeding the baby.

He threw himself on top of me, threw a punch, knocked me to the ground.

Maria tried asking doctors where her son was, but was told he didn't exist.

Maria and Ingrid have both taken DNA tests, hoping to one day find Christian.

While DNA tests provide hope, there are many barriers to success.

For one, Christian would need to take a DNA test from the same provider to get a match.

But there are many on the market around the world.

This lab, run by the Chilean government, collect DNA samples to help investigators identify missing people.

There is no central database connecting DNA tests globally, meaning it's often hard to find matches.

To date, we've taken around 506 samples, which are related to 431 court cases.

From that, 5% had a genetic correlation between mother, father and child.

We send those correlations to investigators.

Our biggest challenge is that many people in this situation have not come forward to initiate legal proceedings.

Since 2018, they've solved about 20 cases.

This is a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of children estimated to have disappeared over three decades.

With many thought to have been sent to Europe, those investigating think more international collaboration would help.

What would help us would be to have more data in our system, so we can make more connections with mothers looking for their children.

Three years ago, the government said it would take charge of the research to reunite separated families.

But many affected feel progress has been too slow.

My investigation is looking at networks that existed in the country that involved people from the judiciary, doctors, civil servants, midwives and social workers, as well as different branches of the state.

It's an arduous task, relying on mostly physical records.

Technology serves the justice process, but resources here in Chile are limited.

We don't manage an independent budget, the state assigns one.

Obviously, I would ask for more personnel, more technological means.

It's no surprise that some are taking matters into their own hands.

Marisol runs an organisation called Hijos y Madres del Silencio, Children and Mothers of Silence.

At Chile's Museum of Memory and Human Rights, she explained how, for her, the work is personal.

I started this work because I was looking for my own sister, who was born in 1972.

This was a state policy during the dictatorship, where they wanted to exterminate poverty by taking children away from poor families.

If not that, they gave them away for adoption.

Marisol's organisation relies heavily on tech, often starting investigations by sharing photos of separated children or parents online.

She says social media has been their strongest tool to connect families.

But earlier this year, they began work on a new idea, AI-generated videos of what the adopted children may look like today.

The group also uses private DNA tests, but has concerns about working with the state's testing programme.

There are some people searching, though, who don't want to report it, because it would involve or implicate the parents who raised them.

That's why we need a DNA bank that is separate from the judicial system.

In these cases, we recommend people like this carry out private DNA tests.

The Chilean government acknowledged its response to forced adoptions had been late, but emphasised ongoing efforts to support family searches and access to justice before this government's term ends.

Plans under discussion include establishing a genetic cells bank to speed up searches using DNA, with both national and international components to process samples in the country and abroad.

While there is no dedicated reparations programme, the need for individual legal action to request economic compensation is also under review.

For separated families, this doesn't provide much comfort.

It is just another year that doesn't listen to us.

Despite its flaws, Maria hopes technology might make the world feel a little smaller in their search for her son.

I'm going to be 68, but I haven't lost faith that someday I'll see my son.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

What happened to Chile’s lost children? | BBC News

process

artificial

poverty

separate