Overview
- Maria Paulina Gonzalez Seguel flew from Chile and met her daughter, Kaitlin (Kate) Saar, in Smithtown after a decades-long search.
- The reunion followed a 100% DNA match arranged by Connecting Roots, a nonprofit founded by adoptee Tyler Graf.
- Saar began questioning her adoption after a February 2024 trip to Chile and later received a Facebook message indicating her mother was looking for her.
- Gonzalez says she was sedated as a pregnant teen and later told her baby was gone, a story that conflicts with adoption papers describing a voluntary surrender.
- Reporting by AP and others estimates roughly 20,000 to 30,000 Chilean children were taken from the 1960s through the Pinochet era, with only about 5% of affected families reunited so far.