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Irish woman's search finds her birth mother close to home

19 March 2014 Last updated at 00:01 GMT

When Aoife Curran was 18 she asked her adoptive father, Micheal, if he would help her track down her birth mother.

After years of searching, they found her living near their Dublin home in the Republic of Ireland.

It turned out the two women had been crossing paths for years - completely unaware they were mother and daughter.

Now 31, Aoife has written a book about the search.

Aoife and Micheal spoke to BBC News about their startling voyage of discovery.

Video journalist: Susannah Reid

Producer: Claire Brennan

Real Time is a series for the BBC News website in which ordinary people tell their own extraordinary stories.