Mum forced to give child up for adoption 48 years ago in Cyprus finally reunites with her son

A touching story has emerged of a mother who has finally reunited with her son for the first time in 48 years, after being forced to give her child up for adoption in Cyprus, as she was not married at the time.

According to the newspaper Politis of Cyprus, Giannis Kofteridis was born in 1967 in Nicosia and was adopted in 1971, by a Jewish American couple in New York.

Giannis’ mother Thalia Pieri was pressured to give up her child, as at the time being a single and unmarried woman was not looked upon favourably by family or society.

Thalia said she received no support from Giannis’ father or any other family members, forcing her to give her child to a family who was able to care for him.

According to reports, Giannis' father did not recognise his child as his own from the moment he was born and has since married and had other children. Even now that his son's story has become known worldwide, he still shows no interest in meeting Giannis.

In 1972, Thaleia migrated to Montreal, Canada, and had two daughters. But she never stopped looking for her son. She even appealed to television shows in Greece, who help reunite families and also used private investigators, but could not track down her child.

Giannis, who after his adoption was named John Kohen, learned little about his biological mother after the death of his adoptive parents when he discovered some papers.

At the beginning of 2018, he moved from New York to Florida and asked for work at a Greek Cypriot restaurant and told the owner Nikolas Apostolides that he was born in Nicosia and all he knows is that he was called Giannis Koefteridis.

That summer, Nikolas visited Cyprus and gave all the information he had to the newspaper "Politis" and after they published an article on Giannis’ story, his mother Thalia was tracked down in Canada and she finally was able to contact her son in Florida.

The mother and son finally met for the first time in 48 years.