Since 1950, with a peak during Augusto Pinochet military regime, more than 20 thousand children have been taken from their parents and illegally put up for adoption to thousands of families from the richest countries in the world. These children grew up without knowing that across the ocean there was a mother and a father looking for them, and lived unaware of their origins. In recent years, a group of mothers gathered to seek for their lost children, moved by the journalistic inquiries that shed some light on the case. Since then, the Chilean authorities have started an investigation on the issue, discovering a real child trafficking ring that involved religious bodies, state officers, social workers, and soldiers. The countries where the majority of the children have been illegally adopted are Italy, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands, and, up to this day, none of the governments has given a statement regarding the matter, or has taken part in the investigations carried out by Chile. Furthermore, over 500 of these children have been illegally adopted in Sardinia, brought to Italy by a group of nuns who had several locations back in South America. Who are these children and their real families who are looking for them across the Ocean? We searched for them and in these months we have talked with their families. Their stories and testimonies are contained in the podcast written by Elena Basso and Giulia De Luca and produced by IrpiMedia, “Figli del Silenzio: il caso dei 500 bambini cileni adottati in Sardegna”.
