She thought her mother gave her away. Like thousands of Chileans, she was taken

As It Happens6:27U.S. woman reunites with Chilean mother 37 years after she was illegally adopted

When María Hastings landed at the airport in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday to meet her biological family for the first time, she said she felt “a little numb.”

But that changed when she walked out of customs and saw her birth mother, sister and two nieces waiting there for her. 

Weeping, she wrapped her arms around her mother for the first time. 

“I think all of the emotions just came right out,” Hastings, 37, told As It Happens guest host Peter Armstrong.

“It’s difficult to put into words what I’m