The Eftychia Project

Nine years ago today, my life changed forever. I had found my biological family in Greece and I was on my way, accompanied by Heather Kerr, to meet them for the first time - my biological mother, my aunts and uncles, and my 12 first cousins and their families. Once, I never imagined I'd ever search for and find my biological family. Now, I can't imagine my life without them. Grateful to God for his goodness and for giving me this precious gift.

Post from June 15, 2017 - I will begin this post by apologizing for the long length, but it's something that cannot be said in just a few words. Most of my close friends know my adoption story. And all of you on Facebook know how much I adored my parents, Jay and Ruth Forrest. After their deaths, I felt very alone and I decided to search to see if I might have any siblings in Greece. I never searched for my birth mother or any other relatives before because I didn't think I'd find anyone. After all, the one document from the orphanage in my parents' files said that my name was Eftychia (the Greek goddess of happiness and good fortune) and I was a foundling of unknown parents. But through a miraculous set of circumstances, which included receiving a wealth of documents from the orphanage archives in Athens, in barely two months I have found my birth mother, alive and well at age 79. I've discovered in the past several weeks that her three sisters and one brother are still living and that I have 12 first cousins.

Bobby and I had planned a 25th anniversary trip to France, Italy and Greece with the kids, at the end of September, before I even started really searching. After talking to my birth mother on the phone with the help of a lady in her village of Stranoma who speaks English, part of me wanted to jump on a plane that very moment. After that phone call, my sweet husband said, "We're not millionaires so it's hard to say money is no object. But it's your mother, so money is really no object. You need to go now. Buy the tickets and take Heather with you. Justin and I will still be able to go in the fall and see everyone. "

So as I write this, Heather and I are on our way to Athens, Greece. Then on to Stronama, a beautiful little village in the mountains above Nafpaktos, where my birth mother, Charikleia Noula, still lives and my cousin, Konstantinos Noulas is the president of the village council. One of my first cousins, Vassilis Noulas, says he will bring my mother and will be meeting us at the airport in Athens when we arrive tomorrow. They all seem as excited as I am. And the best part? They said they had been searching for me for years without any luck!

I will be chronicling my journey on Facebook. My fondest wish is that it will give hope to others who, like me thought there was no one to find and show that it is never to late to look. I give all the glory to God, as He has so sweetly reminded me that it is all about the timing - His divine timing, not mine. This, in NO way, lessens the love I have for my parents. Just as God's power to love is infinite, so also should be ours. And God has graciously given me a whole new family to love. Somehow, I know Mom and Dad are smiling down from Heaven. Your prayers are appreciated, as this is an emotional week for me. Praise God from whom all blessings flow - grateful for all of the blessings I have received and cannot wait for the ones to come! Love you all!

***Website Issue - Email Links Not Working***

It was brought to our attention today that the email links on our website https://www.theeftychiaproject.org for our free help are not working. If you are a Greek adoptee searching for your roots, a Greek biological family searching for a child lost (or presumably lost) to adoption, would like more information about The Eftychia Project or for media inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]. We are working on fixing the email issue. Thank you!

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***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!

***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!

***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.

***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!