Brother and sister Sean Ours (L) and Emily Ours Reid (R) reunite with their long-lost biological mother Sara (C) in Chile in February 2024.Photo:Simon Bucher
Simon Bucher
Growing up, as far as they and their adoptive family knew, their biological mother gave them up because she wanted a better life for her children. However, decades later they learned that the brother and sister — who were born about a year apart — werestolen at birthas part of an illegal adoption scheme.
In November, with the help of a nonprofit group, Sean and Emily finally met their biological mother Sara for the first time via a Zoom call; three months later, the trio reunited in Chile.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Emily, 39, a caterer in Raleigh, North Carolina, tells PEOPLE. “It’s amazing that we were able to go through this experience together.”
Emily Ours Reid and Sean Ours hugging their biological mother Sara in Chile.Adam Reid
Adam Reid
As children, Emily and Sean, 40, say their adoptive parents were forthcoming about their Chilean roots.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
And in high school, when they wanted to find out about their birth family, their adoptive mother hired a private detective. But nothing substantial came out of those efforts.
“It was tough to handle,” Sean — now a sporting goods employee and a married father of two — recalls, “because it seemed like that piece of us would always be lost.”
Emily and Sean Ours as toddlers.Courtesy of the Ours Family
Courtesy of the Ours Family
But everything changed last summer, when Sean and Emily’s adoptive mother told them that she had been reading about illegal adoptions in Chile that occurred under the dictatorship of PresidentAugusto Pinochetfrom 1974 to 1990.
“A lot of the cases were from the Seventies through the mid-Eighties,” Emily says, “so there’s a lot of indicators that led her to believe that we are part of this.”
Wanting more guidance, their adoptive mother decided to contact the nonprofit organizationConnecting Roots, which reunites Chilean adoptees with their biological families.
Emily and Sean Ours as children.Courtesy of the Ours Family
According to founder Tyler Graf, a Houston-based firefighter (who, like Emily and Sean,was stolen at birth in Chile) under Pinochet’s regime, mothers were told that their children had either died at birth or were born premature and later died as a way to control Chile’s poor and indigenous population.
“During the dictatorship, you did not ask any questions,” he tells PEOPLE. “What was said was the given truth. So these children were taken and then placed into a government orphanage until adopted out.”
Speaking to PEOPLE through translator Nicolás Fuentes, Sara says she couldn’t “believe it” when she learned that her two children were alive and living in America. When her DNA results came in that October, the emotional news they knew in their hearts to be true was confirmed.“We knew that she was our birth mother based on many physical characteristics, but the DNA doesn’t lie,” Emily says, as Sean adds that he was filled with “joy and relief.”
Sean Ours and Emily Ours Reid finally meet their long-lost biological mother Sara in Chile in February 2024.Simon Bucher
Seeing each other for the first time over Zoom was “all sorts of emotional,” Emily says.
“We were just stuck in the moment,” shares Sean, “the realization that we actually can see our mother in person. I know we were all crying at some point just because of how happy we were to see each other live and in person. It was just an amazing feeling.”
And in February, the joy was “overwhelming” when Emily, Sean and other Chilean-born American adoptees reunited with their biological familiesat the Santiago airport.
“I knew this is what I was waiting for all my life,” Emily says. “She thought we were dead. She never got to hold us, and so this was our first true time holding each other. It was so momentous.”
Emily Ours Reid and her biological mother Sara cooking in the kitchen in Chile.Adam Reid
Siblings Emily Ours Reid and Sean Ours with their mother Sara and stepfather in Chile.Adam Reid
For Sean and Emily, the experience was more than what they could ever imagine, and Emily says she wants to go back to Chile.
“The Connecting Roots team hands down had done a tremendous job with getting everything organized. Everyone keeps saying it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but it’s not," she says. “This is just the beginning of a new chapter of life.”
source: people.com
