Sending Countries

Intercountry adoptions from Greece began in the post-World War II period, intensifying from the late 1940s with the Greek Civil War, during a time marked by Cold War tensions, humanitarian efforts and resistance to communism. American authorities and Greek-American organisations promoted the “rescue” of Greek “war orphans” and formal petitions to adopt children from a Greece still recovering from war had started by 1948. Gonda Van Steen’s research has documented that between 1950 and 1975 roughly 4,000 Greek children were sent abroad for adoption, primarily to the United States, with smaller numbers to Western European countries, such as the Netherlands and Sweden. This Greek international adoption movement reached its peak in the 1950s, when Greece actively responded to intense overseas demand for healthy children and toddlers, and declined by the mid-1960s.[1]

Early on, however, the narrative of saving orphans was already problematic, as needs were often exaggerated and not all the children sent overseas were orphaned or abandoned. In the rush to facilitate placements abroad, adoptions were sometimes arranged by private lawyers and agencies with minimal oversight, resulting in inadequate record-keeping and irregular procedures. Despite the controversies, Greek authorities for decades undertook no comprehensive investigation into past intercountry adoption practices. Although the government promised in the late 1950s (after a scandal broke out) to begin a long-term investigation, this commitment was never carried out and no official public inquiry into Greece’s Cold War-era adoptions has ever taken place. The Greek state also avoided for a long time to formally acknowledge the irregularities and to assist adoptees in tracing their origins.

An important Greek law was passed in 1996, which was designed to grant adult adoptees access to copies of their adoption records, but Greek-born adoptees have routinely been met with resistance from adoption-related institutions, government agencies and municipalities when asked to provide these records. The passing of the EU GDPR in 2018 again tightened access for adoptees to their records.[2]

In recent years, new research and pressure from adoptee and activist groups, and especially from Nostos for Greek Adoptees (co-led by Mary Cardaras and Gonda Van Steen),[3] called for action, and in April 2025 the Greek Ministry of Interior issued a new law to address the consequences of these adoptions that pertain to the adoptees’ Greek citizenship status. This law, which became effective on 2 May 2025, has now acknowledged the historic adoptions from Greece and has created a clear avenue for Greek-born adoptees of the 1950-1975 period to restore their Greek citizenship.

The new law has also changed the climate surrounding access to adoption records, which was previously only reluctantly granted to adoptees and researchers alike. The law’s preamble officially recognised the approximately 4,000 Greek children sent abroad for adoption and the long-terms repercussions they have endured.[4]

While Greece has still not conducted a full public investigation into its historical intercountry adoptions,[5] these legal reforms represent a significant step in acknowledging and beginning to remedy injustices suffered by Greek adoptees.

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[1] Gonda Van Steen, ‘New Developments in “Old” Adoptions from Greece: When the Future Finally Catches up with the Past’ (History and Policy, 22 August 2025) <https://historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/new-developments-in-old-adoptions-from-greece-when-the-future-finally-catches-up-with-the-past-to-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CE%B8%CF%8D%CE%BC%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%BF-%CF%84%CE%AC/> accessed 19 January 2026.

[2] Gonda Van Steen, ‘The State of the “Historic” Greek Adoptions: A Broken Story That Keeps on Breaking’ (Adoption & Culture) <https://doi.org/10.1353/ado.00015> accessed 21 January 2026.

[3] Mary Cardaras, ‘Nostos for Greek Adoptees’ (Ekathimerini, 23 February 2024) <https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1232453/nostos-for-greek-adoptees-its-long-past-time/> accessed 19 January 2026.

[4] Gonda Van Steen, ‘New Developments in “Old” Adoptions from Greece’ (9 September 2025) <https://facing-the-past.org/new-developments-in-old-adoptions-from-greece/> accessed 19 January 2026.

[5] At the time of this writing, January 2026.