Facebook picture reunites mum with kidnapped son after 15 years in US

United States: Courtesy an old family picture posted on Facebook, an emotional mother reunited with her son in the United States after 15 years, when the child was kidnapped by his father.

Hope Holland had not seen her son Jonathan since he was a three-year-old. His father had kidnapped him and fled across the border to Mexico in 2000.

Hope and her now 18-year-old son are flying back to the Bay Area in California from Mexico and working to re-establish a bond that was broken 15 years ago.

Jonathan posted an old family photo onto Facebook in the hope his mother or older brother would stumble across it.

"I'm happy he wanted to know me. It has been a long journey here. I had lost all hopes of seeing Jonathan again," Hope was quoted as saying by NBC news.

The mother and son were in constant contact until she could bring him to the US.

"I had no reason to believe I was finding my son. Ever since I found him, my whole world, my whole outlook and direction changed," Hope said.

"His dad was going on vacation and had permission to take him. It was a normal day. I didn't think he was not coming back. He doesn't remember anything about the abduction, but says he'll return to California after he graduates and hopes being back with his mom and brother Jacob will help jog his memory," she said.