Jimmy Lippert Thyden claims that from the beginning, he felt a sense of being selected to join his family rather than being naturally born into it.He also knew that he was not born in the United States, but in Chile. He grew up in Virginia with adoptive parents who loved him very much and were dedicated to him. He says he always had everything he needed. The person, who is 42 years old, used to be in the US Marines. Presently, he has taken on the role of a lawyer, entered into matrimony, and are raising two young daughters.
Thyden said that he was told that he was given up for adoption because his birth parents loved him. “My mom, who loved me and wanted the best for me, gave me a life that had lots of chances, learning, and purpose. ”
It all began to change in 2012 when his adopted mom handed him his adoption papers before he left for Afghanistan. Thyden discovered many differences and mistakes in the adoption records when he examined them carefully.
Thyden told CNN that there were different versions of a story told by three or four people, and these versions were so different that not all of them could be true.
There was a paper that said he didn’t have a known mom or dad. Another person gave the name of a woman who is the mother, and also told where she lives. Another paper said that the baby does not have any family members who are alive, and a different paper said that he was given away to another family shortly after he was born. Another paper stated that he was abandoned and put up for adoption when he was two years old.
For a long time, Thyden was curious about where he came from. He wanted to learn more but didn’t know how to start or who to ask for help in Chile.
Thyden says he only started looking into the truth about his adoption a few months ago, after his wife told him about Scott Lieberman’s case.
CNN said in May that Lieberman, a 42-year-old American from San Francisco, was adopted from Chile and recently discovered that he was taken as a baby without his consent. This is how Thyden found out about a Chilean organization called “Nos Buscamos” (We Search for Each Other). They help people who were taken as babies to find their biological parents and families.
During the time when General Augusto Pinochet was in charge, from 1973 to 1990, a lot of babies were sent to adoption agencies. Some of the kids came from rich families, who often gave away babies born to unmarried parents. Some babies who were born into less wealthy families were taken away without permission.
During the past ten years, CNN has recorded several instances where babies from Chile were taken away shortly after being born. Officials in the country say that religious leaders, medical professionals, and others worked together to do illegal adoptions in order to make money.
Chilean authorities think there might be thousands of babies that were taken by force, but the investigation into these adoptions has not made much progress. Some people involved in the illegal adoptions have passed away. Many clinics or hospitals where the babies were said to be taken from are no longer there.
After contacting “Nos Buscamos,” Thyden received an email the following day from the director, Constanza del Río, instructing him to call her immediately. She recommended getting a DNA test, and he did it on April 17th. Thyden found a match through MyHeritage, an online company that helps with family history, in a short time. When del Río found the match, she knew she had to call María Angélica González. For a long time, González thought her son had died not long after he was born.
She was unable to accept it. She believed it was a bad joke because someone had told her that her baby boy had died earlier than expected,” del Río explained. Del Río explains that González was informed that the baby’s body was thrown away in the garbage. During the time when Pinochet was in power and many people were killed or went missing, it was risky to ask too many questions or protest loudly. Chile will remember the 50th anniversary of the takeover that made Pinochet the ruler on September 11.
Thyden has had mixed feelings upon discovering the truth. He is glad to finally find out where he really comes from, but he feels sad about the difficult experiences his birth mother had.
“She didn’t know about me because I was taken away from her as soon as I was born. She was told that I had died, and when she wanted to see my body, she was told that it had been thrown away. ” We have never touched or embraced each other,” Thyden said.
After waiting for a long time, he finally went to Chile to hug his real mother, whom he hadn’t seen for 42 years. When they saw each other in the southern city of Valdivia in the middle of August, he finally managed to say the words he had been practicing for weeks. “Hello, mom,” he said when they finally hugged.
I am 42 years old and I am going to meet her, hug her, and hold her for the first time ever. “That doesn’t seem natural. ” Thyden said later, thinking back on that moment. It made me confront and come to terms with the mistakes that were made. And then, if you get to know her, you will surely love her. She is a kind, compassionate, affectionate woman who believes in faith. It’s hard to believe that someone would hurt her, especially when she is such a small, loving, and innocent person.
When he arrived in Valdivia, he met his whole family and they planned a special birthday party for him ahead of time. There were 42 balloons representing the 42 years that he couldn’t have a birthday party with his real family. As each person appeared, the family that he didn’t know he had called out the numbers: one, two, three.
Thyden later explained that they felt like they were a missing puzzle piece that had been lost for 42 years. When they finally found their place, it felt completely normal, as if no time had passed at all.
According to Thyden, finding out the truth has been difficult because his adoptive parents were also deceived and hurt. He says his adoptive parents spoke to a adoption agency in Virginia and requested to legally adopt a child through a good agency. They even wrote this request down.
They did not think at all that they were buying a child. “He said they would never have done that. ”
When asked what could have happened, Thyden says we cannot know for sure.
I had a moment in my life where I had to choose between going left or right at a T intersection. Instead of turning right, it turned left. Instead of driving or sitting in the car and knowing what was happening, I was the baby inside the trunk,” Thyden explained.
I acknowledge and appreciate that I am fortunate to have loving families from different parts of the world. But I didn’t know that I wouldn’t have become a lawyer. I may have served in the military, but I’m not sure. Did I do those things because of where I was or because they are a part of who I am. Thyden explained that he uses the words “mom” or “mother” for his American adoptive mother and “mamá” for his biological mother from Chile.
Finally, he reveals that his five-year-old daughter provided him with the understanding of what happened to him. She told him that if something bad hadn’t occurred, she wouldn’t exist. She told her father that he has not just one, but two families who love him very much.