What began with a phone call became academic research, opened an unexpected field of study, grew into a movement for justice, shaped public policy, and led to a new law in Greece.
The Demos Center and The American College of Greece have supported the Nostos for Greek-Born Adoptees campaign from the start. On April 2, 2026, ACG sponsored a panel discussion at its Aghia Paraskevi campus, bringing together academic research, lived experience, activism, and public policy around one of the most painful and long-overlooked chapters of modern Greek history.
The discussion was moderated by bestselling author, Philhellene, and Greek citizen Victoria Hislop. The panel featured Athanasios Balermpas, General Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior; Professor Eirini Karamouzi of The American College of Greece; Professor Gonda Van Steen, Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History at King’s College London; and Dr. Mary Cardaras, Founder and Director of The Demos Center. Opening remarks were delivered by Minister of the Interior Theodoros Livanios and ACG President Dr. Ed Wingenbach.
The event marked a significant moment in a years-long effort to bring recognition, dignity, and justice to Greek-born adoptees who were sent abroad in the aftermath of World War II and the Greek Civil War. That effort has now yielded a new law in Greece, passed in 2026, which provides a pathway forward for Greek-born adoptees to restore their Greek citizenship.
The story behind this milestone began with a single inquiry. Professor Van Steen received an email from the son of a Greek-born adoptee whose mother had been taken from her family for adoption at age 10. He wanted to know more about his roots, and particularly about his grandfather, who had been executed for being a Communist during the Greek Civil War.
That inquiry intrigued Professor Van Steen and opened a door into the history of the so-called “lost children of Greece.” In the years following World War II and the Greek Civil War, Greece was among the poorest and most destitute countries on earth. Between 4,000 and 5,000 babies and children were forsaken by the country and sent away for adoption, primarily to the United States and the Netherlands. They left behind families, names, language, records, and citizenship. Many grew up without knowing the full story of how they had come to be separated from the country of their birth.
Professor Van Steen’s seminal achievement, her book, Adoption, Memory, and Cold War Greece: Kid pro Quo?, published in 2019, brought this hidden history to wider attention. It also sparked even more questions and awakened the emotions of the adoptees themselves. They began to meet, talk, share stories, search for records, and organize around two urgent goals: open adoption records in Greece and the restoration of the Greek citizenship of which they had been stripped when they were sent from Greece for adoption.
Among them was Dr. Mary Cardaras, Founder and Director of The Demos Center of The American College of Greece. Herself a Greek-born adoptee. While doing research for her 2021 nonfiction novella, Ripped at the Root, about a stolen baby from Greece adopted by a Greek-American family, Dr. Cardaras discovered Professor Van Steen’s work. Through it, she learned that she, too, was one of Greece’s “lost children,” a phenomenon she had known nothing about.
Professor Van Steen and Dr. Cardaras joined forces and decided to fight for open adoption records and for restored citizenship through the Nostos for Greek-Born Adoptees campaign. Fellow adoptee Stephanie Pazoles helped organize and launch the initiative. The campaign gathered international momentum, garnering more than 75,000 signatures and gaining visibility in newspapers, on the airwaves, and on social media, as well as through sustained meetings with dozens of government officials and journalists.
A pivotal meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 2025 helped turn the tide. Seven months later, in 2026, Greece passed a new law establishing a pathway forward for Greek-born adoptees to restore their citizenship.
For those who had been separated from Greece as children, the law represents more than a legal process. It is an acknowledgment of a painful history, a restoration of belonging, and a long-awaited step toward return.
In recognition of his efforts in advancing this historic reform, Prime Minister Mitsotakis has been named the first recipient of the ACG | Demos Distinguished Citizenship Award for “exemplary service to country and community.”
Watch the event below and discover the highlights, insights, and key moments that made it truly memorable.