Stolen-child Reunion: Virginia Man's Remarkable Journey to Chile

Jimmy Lippert Thyden, who was stolen from his mother in Chile as a newborn and adopted by American parents, recently reunited with his birth family after 42 years. Thyden discovered the truth after reading a USA TODAY story about another man who had been stolen from his mother in Chile. The practice of stealing babies from low-income mothers in Chile and adopting them out to foreign countries was an elaborate human-trafficking operation that took place between the 1960s and 1990s. Nonprofits have helped reunite at least 650 people who were taken from their Chilean mothers and adopted abroad. Thyden is now part of a growing community of adoptees who have learned the truth about their adoptions and reconnected with their birth families. He hopes for accountability from the Chilean government and support for reuniting separated families.