Houston firefighter is one of more than 50,000 Chilean babies stolen at birth
Houston firefighter one of thousands of babies stolen at birth under the order of Chilean government
More than 50,000 Chilean babies were stolen at birth under the reign of dictator Augusto Pinochet. One of those babies a Houston firefighter has reunited with his biological family and is working to reunite others.
HOUSTON - Houston firefighter Tyler Graf was one of the thousands of babies stolen at birth between the 1970s and 1980s under the order of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
These children would become known as The Children of Silence.
"I was one of 50,000 children that were kidnaped at birth by the government of Chile," said Graf.
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He went on to explain the circumstances of his kidnapping.
"My mother like many other mothers was told that I had died at birth and that she had to leave the hospital, and she was not allowed to see a body," he explained.
Graf was put up for adoption here in the United States, his adoptive parents had no idea he'd been kidnaped. And when Graf learned about his history 39 years later, he worked to find his biological family. In September 2021, he was successful and reunited with his mother Hilda Quezada.
"I was in shock, I did not know what was going on, for a week I did not know what was real, what was not, and could not understand what was happening. It was very traumatizing finding out that my son was alive," Quezada said.
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Carol Graf Carnish is Graf's adopted mom. She says all the legal paperwork they were given during the adoption process was fraudulent. And just recently she met his biological mother in person for the first time.
"She's such a strong lady and obviously my heart goes out to her," she said.
This reunion inspired Graft to create a non-profit called "Connecting Roots" its goal is to spread awareness and reunite more families.
"We're educating the public about what happened, about the child trafficking in Chile, and reaching out to these adoptees that have come forward asking for help," Graft said.