Family becomes embroiled in international custody dispute
By Annalisa Rodriguez
The Indianapolis Star
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Nine months after Alissa Zagaris brought her son home to Noblesville from Greece, life is looking pretty normal.
Leo goes to school, hangs out with friends, plays video games and, as an almost 13-year-old, is thinking more about girls.
“He wants to get a girlfriend,” his mother told The Indianapolis Star with a laugh, “something I can’t give him for Christmas.”
It’s Leo’s first Christmas back home and a Christmas Zagaris once wasn’t sure she would get.
In June 2011, she put Leo on a plane for Greece to visit his father as part of a divorce agreement. He had made the trip four times before with no problems, but the last time his father, Nick Zagaris, refused to send him home.
After 20 months of frustration and legal dead-ends, Leo’s mother received a call from the U.S. State Department telling her that the Greek Ministry of Justice decided to enforce the court order for his return.
Since then, the mother and son have been making up for lost time and looking forward to the holidays.
“It’s kind of going to be like three Christmases,” Leo said. “We’re going to kind of make up for it.”
They try to do something special each week, such as going to the movies or sledding.
They’re working on making his bedroom more fitting for a teenager, adding gaming and “Walking Dead” posters and a futon.
Although Leo was held back a year in school, Zagaris said there haven’t been any lasting issues with his education.
“The only issue they seem to have was certain words that he was misspelling,” she said. “He had to ask when he came back, ‘How do you spell ‘because’?’ That was mainly a result of 20 months of speaking Greek and being reconditioned to that environment.”
And she says none of his friends have held it against him.
“Even though a lot of his friends that he grew up with are in seventh grade, it’s like Leo’s gotten a pass,” she said. “He’s still friends with kids in the seventh grade but also kids in the sixth grade. They understand why he was held back.”
Thanksgiving this year, Zagaris said, “was incredible.”
“The day before, he told me he was going to fast all day because he wanted to make sure he had 100 percent stomach capacity,” she said. “I was just so grateful, so happy that he was here. There were a couple of times that I teared up when he came in asking ‘Is it almost ready, is it almost ready?’”
For Leo, the change has been a bit more confusing.
He’s glad to be home but also misses some things about his life in Greece.
“I like being back home with my mom and my little sister but sometimes I feel like I miss Greece,” he said. “I really do miss it because of my dad and my friends there. I love the school there. Life was pretty good there, kind of the same as here.”
But he still keeps in touch with his Greek friends through Facebook, Skype and other social media. His American and Greek friends have even talked to each other online.
“At least I get to talk to them since I have Facebook and Skype,” Leo said. “If I didn’t get to talk to them I’d be a little sad. I wouldn’t get to know what’s new or what’s going on with them.”
It’s been a little tougher for him to remain in contact with his father, who Leo wants to send a Christmas gift.
“He’s really kind of dropped off, no communication at all,” Zagaris said. “It’s like the family in Greece kind of left his life completely, like they’ve turned their backs on him so I think it shows a lot of my son’s character that he’s still trying to reach out.”
Zagaris says she continues to try to be an advocate for other “left-behind parents.”
She’s still working to help Marla Theocharides, another Indiana parent left behind. Theocharides’ children, Marcus and Katerina, were taken in January 2011 to Cyprus by their father.
Theocharides, of Osceola, was finally granted full custody in September 2011 but has been in Cyprus fighting to get courts there to recognize her as the custodial parent.
“She is seeing the kids but alienation is still a problem,” Zagaris said. “Her ex-husband is still doing everything he can to keep her away from the kids. We’re still fighting to get her children back home. I’m trying to help with fund-raising. Her legal costs are a lot greater than mine. She can’t work over there. I just offer support when I can. We talk on the phone and just laugh at the insanity which is pretty much all we can do.”
Zagaris says cases like hers and Theocharides’ need to be handled differently.
“They should be handled by the Department of Justice, every single one of these cases,” she said. “At the very least have a criteria. In some cases it’s true that they’ve been in the U.S. half their life and half in the other country. We can agree that’s a custodial issue. But for kids like mine that were clearly abducted it should be handled by the Department of Justice. Our children should be treated as victims of crime. We would get them back a lot faster.”
Especially now that the initial shock and disbelief has worn off, Zagaris said she is elated and overjoyed to have Leo home.
“I get excited to hear him knocking on the door and coming off the bus every day,” she said. “I feel constantly grateful. I’m very happy to have my life back.”
