In 1969, Susan Preece went on a 'two week trip to Disneyland'. She's just been reunited with her family.

This post features details of kidnapping, which may be upsetting for some readers.

Australian woman Susan Gervaise has enjoyed an unexpected reunion, recently finding her family after 53 years apart.

Susan, 57, has shared the strange story of how she found her siblings after being taken from them, and her mother, at the age of four.

Promising to take her on the holiday of a lifetime, a neighbouring family took Susan with the permission of her mother. However, they did not return the young girl, who lived her life as their daughter.

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Susan had a tough start to life, living on a traveller’s site with her mother and five siblings, who were constantly being moved in and out of foster homes.

The family who raised her also lived on the traveller’s site and befriended four-year-old Susan. They offered to take her to Disney World in 1969, which her mother agreed to, handing over her birth certificate so she could be added to their passport. 

She would never see her daughter again.

“I was befriended by a couple on the site who were from Scotland,” Susan explained in an interview with The Mirror. 

“The woman, who I call my mum, had MS (multiple sclerosis) and they had two sons. I think they wanted a girl,” she continued.

"I have always been happy growing up. I travelled the world.

"I lived with the travelling community and lived a cherished life where I was spoiled rotten," she said.

Susan as a four-year-old. Image: Facebook/Hamilton Gervaise.

Susan's ‘adoptive’ family took her to Canada, then New Zealand, and eventually Australia, where she still lives today.

“I didn’t need a passport to get into New Zealand, but... returning to Australia, I did,” she explained.

“I applied, but I needed a signature from my mother or father. That’s when dad told me they didn’t adopt me, I had been stolen.

“The enormity of what happened to me didn’t hit me. I just carried on with my life.”

Susan’s ‘parents’ are now both deceased, with her mother passing away from MS when she was seven, and her father dying when she was 21. However, it wasn’t until her 50s that she attempted to find her biological family.

“It was only when somebody who was adopted asked me what my family back in the UK would be feeling, and that was a lightbulb moment for me,” Susan shared.

Susan’s husband, Hamilton, then took to Facebook, where he located her family within 30 minutes. They were living in Pontefract, West Yorkshire - still in the UK.

“When I spoke to my family, they were crying hysterically because I was alive.”

Susan (front left) with four of her siblings. Image: Facebook/Hamilton Gervaise.

Apparently, Susan’s mother never stopped trying to find her. Sadly, she passed away eight years ago not knowing what happened to her daughter. She did not contact the police about the situation.

“To this day, we don’t know why the police were never involved,” Susan said.

“I’m thinking it must have been because my mum gave them permission to take me, and the fact we were in and out of foster care,” she mused.

“There have been several appeals through Missing Persons over the years and my mum continually returned to the traveller’s site after moving away to look for me.

“It's such a happy ending. We're all still putting the pieces together.”

Susan was reunited with four of her six siblings, and recently travelled to the UK to see them, where they held a big reunion and a party for Susan’s 57th birthday.

Her niece, Emma McFayden, spoke to Wakefield Express about the reunion.

“We never thought it would happen,” she said.

“It’s been amazing - especially for my mum. She has Parkinsons and dementia, so it’s amazing that she’s been reunited with her sister before she deteriorates. She’s now complete.”

Feature image: Facebook/Mamamia.