Stephen Grater had saved on his mobile phone the black-and-white photo of him in his stepmother’s arms on the balcony of the Mother Baby Center in May 1960. He was just four months old and preparing for a trip that would end up in the United States of America. At the age of 63, he was found from Tennessee, USA, walking on the same balcony of the “Mitera” baby center in Athens that the camera had captured at the time. Excited and emotionally charged, he asked the workers if this was the place where his stepmother held him in her arms and took him for a walk in 1960.

“I wanted to walk there, I wanted to take the same route, the same steps, I wanted to know what they saw and what they felt,” explains Mr. Greiter to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

Between the first and the second meeting of the children who were born in Greece and adopted decades ago in America, the life of Stephen Greater had changed radically. Within a year from August 4, 2022 to August 4, 2023, Mr. Graeter had managed to find his biological father with the contribution of “The Eftychia Project” and have a very large family as he dreamed of.

After 63 years he found his biological parents

Steven Greater’s story begins in February 1960 in Greece. Four months later he is adopted by an American couple and they all move together until he is 8 years old in the Netherlands. At the same time, in 1963, his adoptive parents adopted another child, his sister Lisbeth, where she was also hosted at the “Mother Baby Center”. At the ages of 8 and 5 respectively, Steven and Lisbeth move with their adoptive parents to Boston.

“I found out very early from my adoptive parents that I was adopted. I think I was 4 or 5 years old when my parents told me that I was adopted, that I was special to them and how they love me very much”, he explains to APE-MPE.

Mr. Graeter returned to Greece with his family in 1977 and visited “Mother” to get some information about his biological family, but these efforts were fruitless as he says he was denied entry. In the early 2000s and while his adoptive parents were still alive, he announced to them that, having now reached the age of 40, he wanted to look for his biological family. “I wanted to know my story and feel like I belonged somewhere. My adoptive parents were very supportive, encouraging me when I was looking and asking if I had any news. They were interested”, he tells APE-MPE.

63 years old

Several years passed where Mr. Greater gathered information in an effort to unravel the thread of the unknown life of his biological family. For some time Mr Greater had known the name of his mother’s family and his inquiries had led to the Australian immigration authorities as he had information that his biological mother in the 1960s was to immigrate to Australia. Every piece of information and detail she gathered she gave to the president of “The Eftychia Project”, Linda Carol Trotter (or Eftychia Noula) who completed the investigation.

“He found my mother’s family through the information from the records I had provided. Eftychia Noula together with Toula Vrysioti went to the place where my biological mother’s family was and found my first cousin, they met him and God made everything possible. There were a number of things that happened that day. God opened many, many doors for Eftychia and Tula, they talked to my first cousin and then he called my aunt in Athens and asked her if my biological mother had a child in 1960. And then my aunt told them he said “who the hell?”, Mr. Greuter tells APE-MPE.

A year before October 2022, his DNA was identified with that of his cousin. “That’s how I found out I had 9 first cousins, aunts and uncles. But my mother was not alive,” he explains.

The search however continued this time for his biological father as Mr Graeter managed to find a second cousin on his father’s side. A DNA test identified their kinship and then Steven was one step closer to discovering his father, who was still alive.

The diary read August 4, 2023, when Mr. Graeter met his biological father after 63 years of life, and the similarity between them, as reported in APE-MPE, left no room for doubting their blood relationship.

“You know the word ‘surreal’, something that’s real but doesn’t seem to be?” That’s how I felt when I first met my biological father in person,” says Mr. Graeter. When he learned that his father is alive, he went to the area where he lived and spent 4 days with him and his half-sisters.

“The first day I was there and had my first Greek meal with my Greek family it was wonderful. I love them so much, I feel connected to them. When we met for the first time we cried, we hugged. My father when he met me he hugged me and kissed me,” Mr. Graeter points out and adds: “My whole life both me and my sister had wonderful foster parents but I always felt like I belonged somewhere else. When I visited my dad and my blood sisters, that’s when I felt like I belonged. I found my family,” he notes, while underlining that the DNA test confirmed a little later that it was his biological father.

“Feeling blessed. When I video called my dad for the first time, my sister asked me if I had anything to say to my dad and without thinking I said I love you, because that’s what I felt at the time was the right thing to say . And I told him and we started to cry. I felt it in my soul and in my heart. I have traveled to many countries in my life. When I come back to Greece and hear Greek it’s like poetry for me”, says Mr. Graeter to APE-MPE while explaining that in 1977 when he came to Greece for the first time he wrote poems about the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

“Every time we find a relative of an adopted child I cry”

Having contributed to the reunification of yet another family of a child born in Greece and adopted in America, the president of “The Eftychia Project”, Linda Carol Trotter (or Eftychia Noula) cannot hide her emotion. In Steven’s case the information he had gathered helped her to find the end of the thread of his story. At the same time, they discovered that Steven’s biological father had searched many years ago to find traces of his child, to no avail.

“I get asked every time if I’m going to cry and yes I do every time we find someone. After I found my family I want every adopted child to find it, to find the missing piece of who they are and their identity. I was moved during our visit to “Mother” even though I had not been hosted there. I cry for other people’s happiness. Every child deserves to be protected, to be loved and to have someone who cares about them”, Mrs. Carol points out to APE-MPE and adds that every time they try not to expose any family in public.