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The Documentary: El Salvador's missing children: Part one

El Salvador's Missing Children 1/2

11/04/2024 GMT

El Salvador's missing children: Part one

BBC World Service - The Documentary, El Salvador's missing children: Part one

Children separated from their parents by civil war now want to find their birth families

Children separated from their parents by El Salvador's civil war now want to find their birth families.

During El Salvador’s brutal civil war, hundreds of children were separated from their families. Some were seized by soldiers during military operations against left-wing rebels, and later found living with new families in Europe and North America. Others were given up for adoption by mothers forced into poverty or displaced by the conflict. Now, three decades on, some of those adopted are trying to piece together their lives and find their birth relatives.

Former BBC correspondent in Central America, Mike Lanchin, follows the dramatic stories of two women who were adopted from El Salvador as young children during the war, which ended in 1992. Mike meets Jazmin, raised in France, who wonders why her adoptive parents never explained the circumstances of her adoption. Jazmin asks: could she be one of the war-time missing children? With the help of Salvadoran investigators using DNA testing, Jazmin is hoping to find a living birth relative. But will she succeed?  

Meanwhile in San Salvador, Mike speaks to two sisters who managed to locate the son of one of their younger siblings who was killed during the war. The son has been living in the US, totally unaware of his Salvadoran family’s long search for him. 

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich 
Editor: Kristine Pommert
A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Families of missing children hold up placards bearing their photos. Credit: Yuri Cortez/Getty Images)

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