Chilean Mom Who Was Told Her Baby Died at Birth Reunites With Son 38 Years After; What Really Happened?

A Texas firefighter who was stolen at birth learned of the harrowing details surrounding his adoption before finally having a tearful reunion with his real mom, who is from Chile.

Tyler Graf, 38, told ABC 30 Houston that a loving and caring American family took him in. Yet he still wanted to find out about his birth family when he welcomed his first baby and became a dad himself.

What he learned, however, seemed like a story straight out of a movie or a book because he was apparently kidnapped as a baby. Someone from an organization called Hijos y Madres del Silencio contacted him to let him know that he was a victim of child trafficking in Chile.

His American family had no clue that Graf was illegally taken from his real mom. His mother, on the other hand, was told that her baby died in childbirth and she was barred from seeing the body.

Coercive Adoptions in Chile in the 1980s

Hilda del Carmen Quezada was 26 years old when she gave birth to a son she planned on naming Sergio. But when she woke up after the C-section, Quezada was told of her son's death.

The mother never thought that Sergio would be miles away in the U.S. and handed over to an American family. In turn, the American family's only information about the birth mom was that she gave up her child because she was financially unstable and would not be able to raise the boy.

In the 1980s, coercive adoptions were widespread in Chile, involving hospitals, churches and even the government. According to Click2Houston, some 8,000 to 12,000 Chilean kids were kidnapped and forcibly adopted in the U.S. during that period.

Meanwhile, Graf said that, ever since he can remember, he felt some resentment towards his birth mother. Despite being aware that he's adopted, the Texas firefighter who was stolen at birth admitted that he carried this chip on his shoulder for most of his young life.

Despite this, he grew up as a well-adjusted kid who became a firefighter in Houston. During one of his training many years ago, he met a Chilean firefighter who informed him of Hijos y Madres del Silencio, in case he wanted to reconnect with his biological family.

Graf had a DNA test to help find any relatives in Chile. Then in mid-2021, the Texas firefighter finally got that call that would reconnect him with his birth mom.

Back in Chile, Quezada also got the call from Hijos. It took her some time to grasp the information because she has never forgotten Sergio and commemorated his birthday every year for the last three decades.

"I felt like I had been hit by a bat and was seeing stars," the mother said. "I wanted to scream. I questioned a lot of things."

Reunion Between Tyler Graf and Hilda del Carmen Quezada

According to the New York Post, Graf and Quezada first got to know each other through phone calls and Zoom meetings before she boarded a flight to the U.S. to finally hug her son. Both mom and son stood crying as they hugged each other for a long time.

Since their reunion last year, the Texas firefighter who was stolen at birth also visited Chile and got to meet his three biological sisters. The young dad said that he's trying his best to keep a balance between his adoptive and birth families. He's very conscious of the feelings of both his adoptive parents and his birth mom.

Graf has also established Connected Roots, a nonprofit that raises awareness of child trafficking. The organization provides free DNA tests to those who want to find their real families as well.