‘She called me mommy and she accepts me’

A GIRL, thought to have died as a baby in a house fire six years ago, was reunited with her parents last night after a bizarre series of co-incidences.

Luz Cuevas believed her baby had died in a house fire 10 days after she was born, however, at a birthday party two months ago, she saw a six-year-old who had the same dimples as her daughter.

She took a strand of hair from the girl's head while whispering "happy birthday" to her. She had it DNA-tested and it revealed the girl was her daughter.

Police have arrested the woman who raised the girl, charged her with abduction and with setting fire to Luz Cuevas's house to stage the child's death.

Last night, after a two-month struggle, Luz and the girl's father Pedro Vera were reunited with their daughter after a judge granted them custody.

Philadelphia-area Representative Angel Cruz, who represents the neighbourhood where Ms Cuevas lives, said she was "thrilled" to meet the child she had named Delimar Vera.

"She said, 'She called me mommy and she accepts me'," Mr Cruz said.

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

Ms Cuevas and Mr Vera are no longer a couple.

Authorities say the girl was taken from her cot in December 1997 by Carolyn Correa, 42, who then set fire to the home to cover up the kidnapping.

Ms Cuevas had long believed her daughter was alive, even though authorities said she had died in the fire.

Ms Correa raised the girl as her own until January, when the two ended up at the same birthday party as Ms Cuevas, who had a hunch that the girl introduced to her as Aliyah Hernandez was her daughter.

Under the custody arrangement, Mr Cuevas and Mr Vera will share legal custody, but the girl, who will keep the name Aliyah, will live with her mother.

The girl does not speak Spanish and her mother speaks very little English.