Pauline Pedder (left) reunited with her daughter Carol (right) after 50 years apart. Photo / ITV
A woman who was forced to give up her baby after falling pregnant at 14 has been left stunned after her child found her on Facebook 50 years later.
Pauline Pedder from the UK was just 14 when she fell pregnant, causing a family rift that saw her forced to give her baby away.
For decades Pauline wondered what had happened to her baby girl, and what her life was like.
She turned to ITV's Long Lost Family which helps reunite lost family members after years apart.
After taking Pauline's case on, presenter Davina McCall revealed a secret that blew the now 65-year-old's mind - her birth daughter had been following her on Facebook for years.
Carol Whitehead, Pauline's birth daughter, had gone searching for her real mum after her adoptive mother died.
A series of investigations soon uncovered Pauline's Facebook page which Carole had followed for years.
"I was gobsmacked," said Pauline told The Mirror. "I'd only joined Facebook in 2015 to keep up to date with family news.
"I felt sad because we could have had those extra years together, but finally being reunited has more than made up for it."
Carol, 51, had been following Pauline online for years but was too scared she would be rejected if she came forward and made contact.
For years she sat and followed Pauline's life and even took a screenshot of her profile picture to keep on her phone.
Carol said: "My partner and friends tried to persuade me to contact her, but I didn't know how she'd feel about me.
"Also, I could see from her Facebook pictures that she had kids and I didn't know if she'd said anything to them about me.
"I didn't want to cause problems for her by turning up out of the blue."
Carol explained she would go on Pauline's Facebook page every few weeks.
She revealed it felt strange when Pauline would post a photo of her other daughters, saying "I felt as though I should have been there, but seeing her pictures pacified me."
Pauline's decision to give up Carol was taken out of her hands. She was unable to confess her pregnancy to her family, instead confiding in two close friends.
But after her school's head teacher found out she was expelled.
Eventually, her father confronted her after rumours circled that one of his daughters was pregnant.
"My dad said, 'If you're having a baby, you won't be bringing the baby home here'.
"He forbade me to go out. I lost touch with my boyfriend and I was told by my dad that the baby was going to be adopted."
The family arranged for Pauline to go to a mother and baby unit where she gave birth to a girl she called Louise.
She bonded with the baby immediately, feeding and changing her daughter and washing her clothes.
But when her parents came to visit her at the unit, her father couldn't look at her.
"My mum held her, and I tried talking my mum round, but she said my dad was adamant – I was told I could say my goodbyes and then I had to leave the home for the day so her adoptive parents could come and collect her. I remember saying to her, 'When you grow up, we might bump into each other in Woolworths and you'll remember me and I'll remember you'."
Pauline went on to have another four children after getting married at age 16.
Her only memory of Carol was a photo of herself when she was pregnant.
She says she and her husband always talked about Carol. They had a happy life but Pauline felt she had something missing.
More than 50 years later, they were reunited.
Carol tried to find her birth mum at age 18 and "came up against a brick wall" after being told by the council all the adoption papers had been lost in a fire.
Her adoptive mother was against the idea of finding Pauline, and so Carol parked it to one side.
The pair only lived a 10-minute walk apart in Huddersfield, with family members crossing paths on several occasions unknowingly.
But it wasn't until Pauline applied to go on Long Lost Family that she was finally reunited with Carol.
Pauline, who presented her daughter with a bracelet symbolising her five children the first time they met as adults, said: "We clicked the minute we met. We just talk and talk.
"There's no awkwardness – when one of us stops speaking, the other one starts. It's as if we've always been part of each other's lives.
"I went through a lot of heartache when I was younger, wondering where she was. Now, I feel my life is complete."