75794/41GAZETTE & HERALD: MUM Karen Lissenden who has been reunited with her adopted daughter after 23 years, is upset that social services could not bring them back together sooner.

Mrs Lissenden and daughter Kate Hookings have been talking to the same social workers for five years but neither of them knew.

Miss Hookings, 23, discovered her mum living just 20 miles away from her home in Penhill, Swindon two weeks ago.

Mrs Lissenden, 40, of Hill Rise, Chippenham, said: "If it weren't for social services we could have had another five years with each other.

"She's been in touch with them and I've said I know that person and spoken to them and they never told us. I shall never trust them again and they wonder why they've got a bad name."

Miss Hookings, of Westbury Road, was desperate to find her mum and spent years searching through official channels.

Now she is busy catching up with her and her six brothers and sisters.

Because she was only 16 when she became pregnant Mrs Lissenden put her daughter up for adoption shortly after she was born.

Kate's surname was changed from Beavers when she was adopted by Jenny and Martin Hookings, which meant her mum could not trace her.

When she was eight they told her she was adopted and at 16 she began to search for her birth parents.

When attempts through social services failed she sent an email to Lookup UK who called her on Saturday evening saying her mother had been found. Thanks to the website, which helps find lost friends, relatives and missing people, the former pupil of Kingsdown School, Swindon, has met her mother and siblings Shannon, nine, Nicky, 11, Brian 14, Sammy, 16, Gemma, 18 and Maria, 21.

Mrs Lissenden said: "I knew this day would happen. My friend who's a foster carer had been trying to find her on the Internet for me and I rang her and said you can stop searching now. She was just in tears."

Mrs Lissenden arranged to meet her daughter in the pub the following day.

"When she walked in I just knew it was her," she said. "I thought oh my God that's my daughter. I felt like crying but I didn't until I got home. It was a pretty emotional time."

Mrs Lissenden said her six children have always known about Kate and she has kept a photograph of her in the living room.

"I held her and used to see her for three or four months until she was given to her adopted family. I knew that I wouldn't be able to cope," she said. "There wasn't a day that went past that I didn't think about her."

Since the reunion the pair have been phoning, texting and emailing throughout the day and catching up by looking through photo albums.

Miss Hookings said: "When I got a telephone number and house number for her I was stunned and I couldn't believe they still lived so close.

"I didn't know what she would say but when I phoned she had the kind of voice you could talk to forever.

"When I heard about the rest of the family it was a dream come true. We've got a lot of catching up to do. I've always wanted a big family, even if Christmas is going to be more expensive from now on."

Miss Hookings is still looking for her father Hudson Nyabinda, who she believes moved back to Nigeria.

No one from Wiltshire social services was available to comment.