Van Steen, Gonda,   “‘Are We There Yet?’ The Greek Adoptees’ Road of Return–An Essay.” In  Ergon: Greek/American Arts and Letters , edited by Y. Anagnostou (7 July 2018, online, 10 pages): Author’s Note:  In the second half of May 2018, I traveled to Greece with four Americans who, when they were children in the 1950s, were dispatched by Greece for adoption in the United States. Marianna, Linda, Jay, and Lori come from all corners of the States, but their common roots lie in or near the port of Patras. We visited various places that were important landmarks of their earliest days and months. For all four of them, the trip was a direct encounter with Greece and its people and also with their adoption history. The participants also spent ample time getting to know each other. I observed them and kept a travel journal. I encouraged them, too, to write down their own impressions and to share pictures. The essay below reflects our collective effort capturing and reli...

BLACK-MARKET BABIES SEARCH GREEK RECORDS FOR BIRTHRIGHT By Nikos Konstandaras, Associated Press Published 1 September 1996 in the Houston Chronicle ATHENS, Greece - Forty-one years ago a frightened Greek child of 5, stolen from her mother, landed in America to begin a new life. Raised in an orphanage and by foster parents and told her mother had died in childbirth, young Amalia Balch and dozens of other children that October were herded aboard an airplane in Greece. When the plane landed in New York City, adults streamed on board to claim the children they knew only by photographs, the kids they had adopted by proxy. ""I remember being very sick, and a plane full of children . . . and being very scared," she said. Today, at age 45, Amalia Balch still doesn't know if she was a black-market baby, if her adoptive parents paid money for her. She hasn't pressed the point, but she suspects they did. Over the past 10 years and five trips to the coun...

FLYING THROUGH THE AIR WITH THE GREATEST OF EASE: GREEK ACROBATS IN U.S. By Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald, September 1, 2018 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Since the mid-1820s, Greek circus performers have thrilled American audiences.  The multitalented performer known as the Greek Rhigas performed in New York City between the mid-1820s and the 1850s. In 1876, Antonia Panay brought the Royal Greek Circus, the first Greek-owned circus, on tour to the United States. By the 1880s, massive Greek strongmen began to perform all across the nation working in circuses, carnivals and sideshows. The key point here is not just that Greek performers appeared in American venues but that these performances took place--over decades--not just in big cities ...

GREEK BORN REUNITED ADOPTEES Facebook Group:  Greek Born Reunited Adoptees Description:  None ----- Comments:  This group has 52 members (as of the date of this posting).  Doesn't seem to have recent activity, however, I requested membership and received a response within a few minutes.  

Facebook Group:  Greek Adoptees in Search of Their Birth Family Description: Greek adoptees who were born 1950-1985 in Greece and adopted in USA. ----- Comments: As of the date of this posting there are only 12 members in this group. It is a closed group and you must become a member to view postings by other members.

GREEK BORN ADOPTEES Facebook Group:  Greek Born Adoptees Description: We would Like anyone Who was adopted or Born In Greece then Came to Australia,Or Any Overseas Country to please contact Our Advocate for Australia Theodora Sullivan.She will be The New Advocate For Greek Born Adoptees From Greece here In AUSTRALIA We have Mothers searching for there children after news of Blackmarket doctors being caught in Athens For Illegal Adoption 3 years ago.They were selling and stealing new Born Infants and Selling them to Adoptive Parents and claiming them as there own. Please spread the word. The Doctors later would Announce the baby Dead Just after Birth. The mothers Never recieved Death certificates. ... Mothers are finding out all over Greece there children did not die and are now in Search for there children. We have Siblings looking for one Another. We Have Admins that can talk too you and also get your details. Thankyou.

SISTERS REUNITED: (L-R) Maria, Melissa and Stamatia, pictured with their cousin Vivian (far right), met for the first time after 33 years. Their mother, Georgia Bouras passed away 28 years ago DREAM COME TRUE: WOMAN FINDS SISTER AFTER 33 YEARS Published in The National Herald, February 18, 2006 Issue Authored by Theodore Kalmoukos Special to The National Herald ------------------------------ I am excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ ----------------------- BOSTON - Finding her biological family was a life's dream for coffee house manager Melissa Jackson. After 33 years, the dream has started to come true, and it's a dream with a distinctly Greek twist.  Mrs. Jackson's life story could have very easily been turned into a Hollywood script, but it's as real as it gets, so it would hav...

SON FINDS FATHER'S BIRTH MOTHER Published in The National Herald, March 4, 2006 Issue Authored by Dimitri Soultogiannis ------------------------------ We are excited to announce that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ WASHINGTON, D.C. - A baby boy is born at a local hospital in Patras, Greece on April 7, 1950.  A few months later, the infant boy is baptized at Saint Nicholas Church in Patras at two months and 26 days of age, and is given the name Charalambos.  His 18-year-old mother, Maria Valassopoulos, due to youth and financial limitations, is forced to make an immensely difficult decision:  She decides to give her only child away to the local orphanage. Five years later, Charalambos is adopted by a wealthy American family, the Eberts, from Elwood Park, New Jersey. Charalambos stays with the Eb...

THE GREEK CIVIL WAR AND CHILD MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA by Joy Damousi Published in Social History Vol. 37, No. 3, August 2012 This is an interesting paper that describes the removal of Greek children during the Greek Civil War and the efforts of Australia and other countries to try and reunite families. Excerpt from this scholarly paper: . . . .  I shall briefly outline the circumstances under which children were removed from their families, and Australia's role on the world stage with regard to child migration at this time. The Greek Civil War created conditions whereby children were removed from their homes out of war zones and into neighbouring eastern European countries. It was the first in which incipient Cold War rivalries caused a civil war. Following the Second World War, Greece was alone in its inability to find a peaceful solution to the post-war order. While the leaders of the Civil War were communist-inspired and had external links, it was a local struggle. ...

I just ran across this article and know many of you will be very interested. Published in The New York Times, April 13, 1996 - by Raymond Bonner TALES OF STOLEN BABIES AND LOST IDENTITIES;  A GREEK SCANDAL ECHOES IN NEW YORK The baby girl, swaddled in rags, was abandoned on the steps of an orphanage in Patras, Greece, with a simple note giving her name (Maria Ioannou), date of birth (Aug. 15, 1955) and a plea that she be fed. At least that is what official papers say, papers that allowed her to be adopted by a family in Holliswood. Queens.  She arrived at Idlewild Airport aboard Swissair Flight 850 at 9:15 a.m. on Dec. 28, 1955. Forty years later, Maxine Deller -- she has used that name since her adoption -- says she believes that much of her official past is a lie.  Ms. Deller, a car saleswoman in Queens, is convinced that her natural mother is still alive, that she has brothers and sisters in Greece, and that she was not abandoned at all but was i...

1956 Greek orphans brought from Greece to the United States for adoption under the Ahepa Refugee Relief Program. These photographs are courtesy of the ORDER OF AHEPA - Taken from the book  "The History of the Order of Ahepa (The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association) 1922-1972"  by George J. Leber, Executive Secretary of the Order of Ahepa.  Published by the Order of Ahepa, Washington, D.C. 1972. This book is available through the U.S. Inter-library loan program, you can work with your local library to obtain a copy.

The following announcement was written by the Mixed Roots Foundation - and brought to my attention by Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Mixed Roots Foundation has partnered with two DNA testing companies, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA, that will help adoptees and their families discover their biological and cultural roots through DNA testing. “We know, from both research and experience, that access to one’s own information is a vital part of life, including shaping a positive identity." In celebration of its one-year anniversary, the Mixed Roots Foundation today proudly announces the creation of the first-ever Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP) and the establishment of the Filling in the GAGP Fund to help adopted people and their families discover their biological and cultural roots through DNA testing. Mixed Roots will launch the Fund at the Adoptee Comedy Show on Monday, May 21, 2012, at the Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco, CA. GAGP’s services wil...