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Voices of the Lost Children of Greece is a collection of essays from Greek-born adoptees in the 1950s after two consecutive wars that ravaged the country. Never before has this group of adoptees come together to write their stories and share their closely held feelings. While many of the adoptees have similar experiences and while they may share some common thoughts about their adoptions, their stories are vastly different, some harrowing, others remarkable. The collection will illustrate the impact of adoption itself over years, no matter if children were displaced from their parents and country as infants or as youngsters. The book will shed light on adoption from many disciplinary angles, including sociological, psychological and anthropological. It will also put these adoptions into a larger historical context. The book is further enhanced by Greek-born adoptee, academic, poet and writer, Dr. Andrew Mossin, who writes the Foreword; by Dr. Gonda Van Steen, a preeminent modern Greek scholar, who pens the first chapter about the history of such adoptions; and in the final chapter, by Dr. Eirini Papadaki, who has written extensively about the women of Greece and adoption, to bring readers a current assessment of adoption practices in Greece today.
“Nostos is used in Ancient Greek literature, to describe an epic hero returning home, which is a recurrent theme in this gem of book. It is about 14 heroes—14 Greek-born adoptees—14 individuals that have had the courage to publicly share their unique stories of heartache and discovery of their homeland. What unites these heroes as well as thousands of others, who are likewise missing information about the circumstances surrounding their birth, is their longing to know their origins. This unifying factor of origins is so important that it has been (almost) universally recognized by the international community as a right, and its deprivation creates an obligation on States to restore missing elements speedily. I sincerely hope that this book will help build on the momentum within the United Nations and regional bodies in preserving and restoring the child’s identity even into adulthood so that the right to know their origins is fully respected” —Mia Dambach, Executive Director, Child Identity Protection, Zurich.
Dedication; Foreword (by poet, writer and Greek-born adoptee Dr. Andrew Mossin); Introduction (by Dr. Mary Cardaras); Chapter One: Greek Adoptions in Historical Context (by Dr. Gonda Van Steen); Chapters 2–15 The Essays from 14 Writers (all with different titles); Chapter 16: Today and Afterward (by Dr. Mary Cardaras); Acknowledgements; About the Editor.