Mowbray, 41, lives in Worcestershire. When her daughter Kelly-Marie was two years old, she was forced to give up custody due to domestic violence from the child's father and had not seen her since.
Seven years ago, she began searching for Marie, but found no leads, eventually pinning her hopes on the internet. Last November, she tried the social networking site Facebook. Not knowing her daughter's surname after adoption, she simply searched for the name "Kelly-Marie," which yielded hundreds of results. Mowbray clicked on them one by one, checking photos in hopes of finding a clue. It seemed like an impossible task, but it was the only method she had.
Suddenly, she saw a young woman in her early 20s who looked very much like she did when she was young. Excited, Mowbray sent a friend request.
The next morning, the other party accepted her request. The two began communicating online. A few minutes later, Mowbray mentioned that she was waiting for some important information regarding a daughter she had not seen for about 20 years. The other party asked for her daughter's name, and she said her daughter's name was "Kelly-Marie Thomas" before she was adopted.
After a moment of silence, the other party replied: "Mom!" She then added: "I am Kelly-Marie, and my surname was Thomas before I was adopted."
It turned out that Marie had also been thinking of her biological mother and had started searching for her three months prior. Marie and her adoptive family also live in Worcestershire, about 30 kilometers from Mowbray's home. She said: "It's amazing, it feels like we were never apart."
The mother and daughter communicated via the internet and text messages for five months. A week ago, Marie finally gathered the courage to meet her biological mother in person. Upon meeting, Mowbray hugged Marie tightly. "Finding my daughter makes me feel like I'm flying," said Mowbray. "Now I can finally fulfill my wish of being a good mother."