Thanassis

I don't like him. On what do I base this opinion? Nothing more than heresay, really.

I met him. He was quite pleasant to me. Ingrid adored him. That's my personal experience.

Why I don't like him:

1. He's BANNED by the Embassy! I don't know why (although I have a pretty good idea). But the truth of the matter is, he is NOT supposed to be working on adoptions for the US. If the Embassy banned Mother Theresa, I'd go along with what the embassy said. Now, you can judge me for taking someone else's opinion as my own, but that's just how I feel about it. I tend to take statements like this seriously "We advise all agencies to not accept any referrals from Mr. Kollias, as they will be rejected. Any Guatemalan attorneys or notaries found to be involved with Mr. Kollias in attempting to circumvent this proscription will likewise be subject to similar action." (Source: http://www.guatadopt.com/archives/000261.html. I've seen it on the US Embassy site, also, but this one was faster to find and I'm really not interested in proving it to you.)
2. The accusation by Barrios was that Ingprid's bmom's cedula was fraudulently signed. I don't know for a fact that he did it, but he was definitely involved. And I know of other cases, HIS cases, where there were similar accusations of fraudulent cedulas. Once is an aberration, twice is a pattern, three times it's his Modus Operendus.
3. He doesn't use his real name. I don't really remember the name he introduced himself to me with, because frankly I didn't care what his name was. He did not identify himself as an attorney or facilitator or ANYTHING, only as a translator. And I did not need a translator, I needed DNA authorization, or the truth about the cedulas, or a medical update. At any rate, the name I was given as a contact by Joanne was "Steve." I was also given "Steve's" phone number. When I called the number, no one there spoke any English (and I then confirmed in Spanish that it was the wrong number). It's all too sneaky for my comfort level. I later found out from other families that Thanassis goes by the name Steve (and then I checked my own records, sure enough the contact I had was Steve). And sure enough, when I saw a picture of Thanassis in August it was the same man I met at the Marriott. It was Thanassis, no doubt about it.
4. He intimidated the foster mother. Horribly so. She was so afraid of him, of whoever that translator guy was (and she didn't say his name, she did say he was from the attorney's office or maybe she even said the attorney). I mean, she was very worried she'd lose her job as a foster mother because she had spoken with me by phone. (And several months of e-mails with Joanne followed, where Joanne insisted "the office" was fine with me calling and the foster mother insisted the "abogado" was not fine with it. I called ONCE after my visit trip, only for Easter. (Not even for Ingrid's birthday!) I hesitate to even write that much, because I think he reads the Internet.
5. Two biological siblings, relinquished at the same time, same "facilitator," same agency. Different attorneys, different cedulas. Seems too fishy to me. I don't blame the reviewer for flagging two cedulas, and that was without even knowing about Ingrid's relinquishment. Joanne told me once that they didn't realize there were two cedulas, and why would they realize because there were two different files? Come to find out, two files AND two attorneys, separated by Thanassis. Then, Joanne told me a few days later that they DID know about the two cedulas. Which is the truth? It seems that Thanassis knew about the two cedulas and was hoping to avoid problems by placing the girls through different attorneys. I know he tried that before with another family, one placement happened after two years and the other got stuck in investigations until the aparents gave up.
6. Bullying, intimidation, lying, covering up. Those are things I don't believe in. Those are business moves. He's trying to sell you a child. I'm not paying him for a child, thank you.

I'm glad he's good for you. I'm glad he helped you. Really, I'm happy. The most important thing is ALWAYS making sure babies are safe and loved. But Thanassis, he's just not my cup of tea. And it's worth over $20,000 to me, to stand my ground and try to do this ethically.