Over 40 years old after being ‘robbed’ as a baby, American found family in Chile

Scott Lieberman, an American who lives in São Francisco, always knew that he was adopted in Chile. What he didn’t know was that he had been stolen when he was growing up.

“I lived 42 years of my life without knowing that I was robbed, without knowing what was happening in Chile during the 70s and 80s and I just want the people to know… There are families that we can still be reunited with,” Lieberman said.

During the rule of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), many babies were sent to adoption agencies. Some of the children came from wealthy families, taken away or abandoned to protect their reputations. Other babies from poorer backgrounds were simply stolen — as seems to have been the case with Lieberman.

In the last decade, CNN documented several cases of Chilean babies who were stolen at birth. The authorities of the country say that parents, nuns, doctors, nurses and others conspired to carry out illegal adoções, with the main motive being profit.

Chilean authorities say that the number of stolen babies could be in the home of two thousand, but the country’s investigation into the controversial adoptions has been established for two years. Some who participated in illegal worship died. Many clinics or hospitals where babies were allegedly stolen no longer exist.

When Lieberman became aware of the scandal a few months ago, he began to wonder if the same would have happened to him — and he began to piece together the history of two deceived families, not Chile and the United States.

robbed child

The story of Lieberman begins at the end of 1979 in the city of Cañete, located in the Biobío region, in south-central Chile. His mother, Rosa Ester Mardones, then 23 years old, just discovered that she was pregnant. Being single and in a difficult financial situation, she sought help, second to daughter Jenny Escalona Mardones, two years older than Lieberman.

She told CNN that Catholic friars were to visit her mother and she offered a job in the capital Santiago, where “she would do domestic work in a house with a doctor.”

Once in Santiago, she was also helped by a social worker who, according to Escalona, ​​seemed particularly interested in her mother’s case. Throughout the pregnancy, the social worker forced me to submit several documents that the young people in the interior don’t understand very well, says Escalona.

The baby was born on August 21, 1980, at Clínica Providencia, in Santiago. He was healthy, but Rosa Ester Mardones badly managed to see him or leave. The social worker took custody and raised the baby, before leaving his mother at the hospital, said Escalona.

When Mardones went to the social worker to find out about the baby, she was threatened.

“Do not come here again looking for the baby; Because, if you do, I’m going to call the police and they’re going to arrest her”, the assistant told Mãe de Escalona.

“His son is now in the Netherlands or in Sweden. He is in a different country. You are a poor single woman and not capable of raising another child. You assign your parental rights, in any way.”

During the times, asking many questions was risky. For a woman like Mardones, getting help from the police would be unthinkable.

The baby was de facto in a different country, but not in Europe. An American married couple or adopted and has all the paperwork to legally take the baby home to the United States, where he grew up, now called Scott Lieberman, he would grow up.

“I feel more complete”

In interview with CNNLieberman, now 42 years old, says that his adoptive country will never suspect that they will be adopting a boy who has been robbed of his biological mother.

Just late last year, when Lieberman, who works as a video editor, read a report on illegal adoptions in Chile and began to wonder if this was the case as well.

With the help of Nos Buscamos, an NGO that seeks to bring together children who are far from their biological countries, he discovered that he has a better name. With the help of MyHeritage, an online genealogy company, Lieberman and Escalona will perform DNA tests to confirm that they are related.

Lieberman showed CNN Your Chilean birth certificate and birth registration, as well as your American adoption documents.

On April 11, Lieberman traveled to Chile to meet his biological family. His mother died of cancer on us in 2015, when he was 58 years old. She never knew that her son was adopted by an American family and would return to Chile less than a decade later.

He has his half-sign at the Concepción Airport. She doesn’t speak basic English or Spanish, but she doesn’t need words. Despite being strangers a few weeks before, they now embraced each other as they conceded to the whole life. No one, including those around him, is sure of tears.

Asked about how he felt about returning to his native country, Lieberman said: “Muito bem. Quase all my family is here. It’s unbelievable. Much love!” Members of his extended family also appeared and later he also found himself with his biological father.

His sister Escalona said that she felt “very happy”, but without words.

Lieberman believes that he is lucky, especially when he thinks none of the children and children will not be found.

“She knew that I existed. There are other mothers who have been informed that their children were born dead. They don’t know that their son may still be alive in another country”, says Lieberman.

Lieberman spent 12 days in Chile, visiting the mound of his biological mother with his sister.

“I didn’t feel that my life wasn’t complete before. I have much love for my family as I grow up. I have a lot of love two my friends. But now, he is strange, but I feel more complete. [Eu me sinto] loved in a way that I never felt before”, says Lieberman à CNN after returning from Chile to San Francisco.

Escalona now proves that the freiras who were to visit her mother when she was pregnant, as well as the doctor in whose house she worked, conspired with the social assistant to rob her of her mother’s sister.

Escalona said that his mother never told him anything about his brother. She believes that a combination of shame, pain and sadness prevented her from letting her know the truth.

“Never, never, my mother falou about the fact that she has a son and that he was stolen. It was a painful truth that she kept to herself for many years. Eu acho que a dor dela levou embora”, says Escalona.

Everything that Escalona knows was told by a close relative who helped his mother. This parent was with her during the pregnancy and knew details about the birth of the baby and how he was thrown from her mother, says Escalona.

It really helped Escalona to understand things about her mother that seemed intriguing before, including her mother’s decision to live near the Santiago airport during the last years of her life.

“She wanted to go to the airport and asked to go with her. She barely sat and observed the people, mainly so we walked around”, says Escalona.

She now proves that her mother expected her son to return.

His mother returned to Cañete shortly before dying, but customarily said: “I can’t hear the planes anymore.”