Mother Reunited With Daughter, Now 6, Who Was Kidnapped as Infant

AP ^ | Mar. 5, 2004

[nuconvert]

Mother Reunited With Daughter, Now 6, Who Was Kidnapped as Infant

Mar 5, 2004

The Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A mother and her now-6-year-old daughter, who was kidnapped as a newborn and raised by another woman, hugged and kissed during their reunion, a Pennsylvania lawmaker says. Luz Cuevas met with the girl at an undisclosed location in New Jersey on Thursday, the same day a judge approved a plan to grant custody of the girl to Cuevas and the child's biological father.

Philadelphia-area Rep. Angel Cruz, who represents the largely Hispanic neighborhood where Cuevas lives, accompanied her to the reunion and said she was "thrilled" to finally see her daughter face-to-face.

"When (Cuevas) came out and met us in the waiting area, she said 'she called me mommy and she accepts me.' That's what she told us," Cruz said Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"She got a hug and kiss, her daughter sat in her lap. The moment she expected six years ago, she got it last night," Cruz said.

Authorities say the girl was taken from her crib in December 1997 by Carolyn Correa, 42, who then set fire to the home cover up the kidnapping. Cuevas had long believed that her daughter was alive, even though authorities said she had died in the fire.

Correa then raised the girl as her own daughter until January, when Correa and the girl ended up at the same birthday party as Cuevas, who had a hunch that the girl - introduced to her as Aliyah Hernandez - was really her daughter. DNA tests confirmed her hunch, and Correa was charged this week. She is being held in Philadelphia on $1 million bail.

Under the custody arrangement, Cuevas and the girl's biological father, Pedro Vera, will share legal custody but the girl will live with her mother. Cuevas' lawyer, Andrew Micklin, said the transfer of custody will be a gradual process.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

I can't imagine the emotions of this situation and the transition for the little girl won't be w/o difficulties. Prayer heavenward for sweet bonding and healing. <><

[eccentric]

said the transfer of custody will be a gradual process.

why? She's already lost the home she grew up in, why suddenly take it slow? Just to keep some child protectors employed?

[nuconvert]

That was incredible. She said she remembered a dimple.

[CyberAnt]

And .. I heard that when the mother suspected it was her child, she maneuvered getting some of the child's hair.

I don't remember the exact details, but it was something about the child getting something in her hair, and the mother offered to help the child, and in the process took some of the child's hair. The DNA from the hair proved the child was hers.

[TamiPie]

Hey Senor Vera, why don't you be a real man and marry Luz Cuevas so little Aliyah can have a real mother and father? Maybe if you were in the home the night of the kidnapping and arson, this would never have happened.