The Eftychia Project

05/22/2026

***EFTYCHIA PROJECT PARTICIPATES IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS "TOGETHER IN CHILD PROTECTION" ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND STOLEN BABIES IN BELGRADE, SERBIA***

The Eftychia Project was honored to be invited to speak at this amazing conference, an invitation-only event which brought together parents of stolen children, organizations and academics world-wide to address this decades-old isuue and to form a new international umbrella organization, FIND, to coordinate the efforts of its members in seeking the truth, and investigating and locating missing children. We are proud to be one of the 14 signatories on the resolution of the formation of FIND.

Eftychia and Panagiota (Toula), president and vice president, respectively, of the Eftychia Project, attended the congress, where Eftychia spoke about DNA as a powerful tool in her presentation titled "The Forgotten Children of Greece: DNA Technology as the Key to Unlocking the Doors of the Past". Eftychia spoke about the Greek adoptions in general, her own story in particular, and how DNA can be used in reuniting families, and may often be the only tool available to those adoptees who either have little or no documentation and for biological families who have reason to believe their children were stolen, often after being told their healthy babies had died shortly after birth. She discussed our invaluable partnership with MyHeritage and the basics of DNA, genealogy and managing the distribution of DNA tests.

While this was a working trip, there was time for a bit of sight-seeing in Belgrade after the conference. In addition to photos from the Congress, we have included photos from St. Savvas Cathedral (very similar to the Agia Sophia), the original church of St. Savvas, the Belgrade fortress, and the Belgrade waterfront on the Danube River.

Our deepest thanks to Ana Pejic, Jovana Trninic, the Association of Parents of Abducted Babies of Vojvodina, and the Alliance of Christians of Croatia for the invitation to the Congress and the warm and amazing hospitality. We are excited to work together as we move forward!

05/10/2026

Reposting this from our friends at InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV). Mother’s Day can be complicated for adoptees. Happy Mother’s Day to all who are mothers.

05/06/2026

***NEW UPDATE: Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026***

"There is no room at the inn..."
WE ARE OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT! We have no hotel rooms left for the Reunion! All 31 rooms are spoken for (which, by the way, is a good problem to have!). We are overwhelmed and humbled by the response to the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion and our trip through Greece with our fellow adoptees. Please be assured that everyone who has already registered and paid a deposit/paid in full has guaranteed rooms at the hotels on our itinerary.

If you still want to attend the Reunion, there are two ways in which that might still be possible:

1. Join the waiting list at https://forms.gle/sPoNRQeeZd9ckXuM9 You may still be able to attend in case someone who is already registered is unable to come. Be sure to include the number of persons and keep in mind that you will have to share a room if you have a traveling companion, as it will not be possible for us to get additional rooms in the coming months. If you choose this option, follow the link above to sign up on the waiting list.

2. We still have 4 seats left on the tour bus. You can register for the Reunion, but you will be responsible for obtaining your own hotel accommodations for the trip. The cost of the Reunion will be reduced by the cost of the hotel rooms, so it will include everything else on the itinerary except the hotel accomodations. If you want to choose this option, please email us at [email protected] for the exact cost of this option and to ensure that these seats are still available.

We are going to have an amazing time of fun, fellowship and connection. WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

04/30/2026

***UPDATE - Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026***SAVE YOUR SPOT TODAY!***

As of today, we have exhausted our initial block of 20 rooms for each hotel. Now, that does not mean that we cannot get more hotel rooms, nor does it mean that you can't still attend the Reunion. What it does mean is that you need to let us know ASAP if you plan to attend the Reunion and if you will be single or double occupancy so we know how many more hotel rooms to acquire while we are still able to obtain more.

Whether you pay in full or use the installment plan, we encourage everyone to pay an initial deposit of $350 per person to save your spot. While the date for paying the initial deposit for the installment plan is April 30, we will accept payment in full or deposits (either for the installment plan or payment in full) until May 31, the day the first installment payment is due.

While you may still register for the Reunion after May 31, it will be on a space available basis, so please check with us first if you plan to register after May 31. All of the details for the Reunion can be found on The Eftychia Project page or on our website at https://theeftychiaproject.org .

We are so excited by the response for this magical trip through Greece together and we can't wait to welcome you home!

04/24/2026

***AN ANNIVERSARY TO REMEMBER FOR GREEK ADOPTEES - GREEK CITIZENSHIP RESTORED***

Exactly one year ago today, the Ministerial Order for the Restoration of Citizenship for Greek Adoptees was issued by Minister of the Interior Theodoros Livanios and Deputy Minister of the Interior Petros Spanakis - exactly six months after the pivotal meeting on October 24, 2024 of the The Eftychia Project, our legal team of Tsoromokos & Papadopoulos, PLLC and the vice-president of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights Ioannis Ioannidis with Minister Livanios, Secretary General of Citizenship Dr. Dimitrios Karnavos and their legal counsel. In fact, the Order was the direct result of that meeting. Our legal team was asked to collaborate with the Ministry and without them, there woud be no Order as it is today. A milestone celebrated by Greek adoptees everywhere, and one that wouldn't have happened without more than five years of hard-hitting advocacy by The Eftychia Project and their legal team.

On May 2, 2025, the order was published in the Greek Government Gazette, making official the procedural pathway by which Greek-born adoptees can reinstate their Greek citizenship. This is not a new "law", as some have called it - a new law is something that would have to be enacted through Parliament. It is a procedural order based on current Greek law. There were proposals floated by others for this landmark achievement, one being a blanket soλution via submission of adoptees as a group, which is not practical nor legal under current Greek law, and did not protect the identity rights of foundlings - the Eftychia Project insisted that honorary citizenship (cannot be passed to children) and anything less than full Greek citizenship for foundlings was unacceptable. These other proposals were nothing like the process outlined in the Ministerial Order, which was based on the legal framework developed by our legal team and which they had been successfully using for several years to restore Greek citizenship for many Greek adoptees.

Since the issuance of the Order, our legal team has guided nearly 30 Greek adoptees on their journey to the restoration of their Greek citizenship. We thank the Greek government, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών, Minister of the Interior Thodoris Livanios, Deputy Minister of the Interior Petros Spanakis, General Secretary of the Interior Αθανάσιος Μπαλέρμπας (Athanasios Balerbas), Secretary General of Citizenship Dr. Dimitrios Karnavos, and with thanks also to MP Στάθης Κωνσταντινίδης Βουλευτής (Stathis Konstantinidis), who was there at the very beginning of this journey, for this historic Order. The Order that returns to us identity, acceptance and belonging. We were born in Greece and Greece has always been within us. We have always been Greek. And now, our Greek government has acknowledged that, too.

04/22/2026

***REGISTER NOW FOR THE Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026 - SPACE IS LIMITED, SO SAVE YOUR SPOT AND PAY YOUR DEPOSIT BY APRIL 30, 2026***

Don't miss out! If you are planning on coming to the Reunion, whether you plan to pay in full or via the installment plan, we encourage each of you to pay a deposit of $350 to save your spot. You can then either pay the remainder in full or pay via the installment plan. W've had a brisk repsonse in registrations so far, so once the bus is full, we will not be adding a second bus. There will also be a time in the next few months when we will be unable to secure additional hotel rooms.

Use this link to pay the $350 deposit for 1 person:
https://square.link/u/jc8ML1cy
Use this link to pay the $350 depost for 2 persons ($700):
https://square.link/u/ytCWcHAw
Let us know if you intend to pay the remainder in full (please do so at your earliest convenience) or to pay the remainder via the installment plan.

All of the information for the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026 is on our website at https://theftychiaproject.org and on our The Eftychia Project FB page.

So don't delay! Make your deposit today to save your spot. If you have any questions or need more information, message us on our page or send an email to [email protected]. We can't wait to be together with you in our homeland of Greece!

04/03/2026

***The Eftychia Project and Greek adoptions got a shout-out, too!***

Imagine our surprise when we were told to watch Lepanto R-TV tonight and saw this touching and well-done feature about Bob Trotter and the amazing and important work he has done over the past 7 years, including: founding the HellenicAmerican search rescue team (HASRT) with Dimitrios Kalogeropoulos, the only volunteer firefighting team in Nafpaktia; volunteering every summer for two months to fight wildfires; founding the US-based nonprofit Friends of Hellenic Firefighters; shipping hundreds of thousands of dollars of firefighting, search and rescue and medical equipment to support HASRT and other volunteer firefighting units; and providing expertise and training in support of and in collaboration with civil protection.

I think it was fitting that the feature ended with a clip of Bob receiving his honorary naturalization as a Greek citizen and taking the oath in Greek. Μπράβο σου, αγάπη μου! Είμαι πολύ περιφανή για εσένα!

03/31/2026

***Our thanks to the Greek Reporter for the nice article below about the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026***

COME AND JOIN US IN THE HOMELAND, OCTOBER 11-17, 2026, FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE WITH FELLOW ADOPTEES!

If you missed the informational webinar, here’s a link to a pdf of the presentation, with everything you need to know about the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion. We can’t wait to welcome you home:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:32adeb07-72b2-42a0-9fc7-eb0075c8b808

Greek adoptees from across the USA and around the globe will head to Greece October 11-17, 2026 for the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion.

03/30/2026

We had a wonderful turnout this afternoon for our interactive Zoom webinar with all of the information for the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026. If you were unable to attend, there are two ways to view the webinar:

1. The first is a link to a PDF of the presentation, and all the slides are self-explanatory:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:32adeb07-72b2-42a0-9fc7-eb0075c8b808

2. The video of the webinar will be on The Eftychia Project YouTube channel later this week once editing is completed. We will post the link to the video as soon as it is available.

Thanks to all who attended the webinar and we are all looking forward to being together in Greece October 11-17, 2026! We can't wait to welcome you in the homeland!

03/27/2026

Our thanks to The National Herald / Εθνικός Κήρυξ for the nice article about the upcoming Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion 2026.

Join us for an interactive webinar with everything you need to know about the Reunion this Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 1:00 pm ET, 12 noon CT, 11:00 am MT, 10:00 am PT and 8:00 pm Greek time. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session, then hang around after to chat with your fellow adoptees.

To receive the link for the webinar, email us at [email protected].

FRANKLIN, TN – Greek adoptees from across the USA and around the globe will head to the land of their birth October 11-17, for the Fifth Annual Greek Adoptee Reunion. The event is hosted by the Eftychia Project, a nonprofit organization that helps, free of charge, Greek adoptees searching for thei...