Mother's battle to get back abducted daughter, 2

It will be a lonely Mother's Day tomorrow for Alyssa Cruz, who is still wondering how her estranged boyfriend managed to spirit their two-year-old daughter from Hong Kong to France without the child's birth certificate or passport.

"For this Mother's Day, all I want to know is that my daughter is fine. But I can't see her and can't contact her right now," Cruz said with tears in her eyes.

Cruz last saw Lana Desiree Cruz Lopez on March 20, the day before her daughter's second birthday. Lana was born in France in 2012, and holds a French passport.

She had allowed Clement Lopez to take the child on an outing - against the advice of police and social workers - after he pleaded with her to let him see the child as it was her birthday.

"I was going to invite him to her celebrations anyway," the 25-year-old English teacher and Hong Kong resident said, explaining why she relented.

The next she heard from Lopez was a text message that she opened as she waited at the Central ferry piers for him to return from what she thought had been a day trip to Stanley. "I'm sorry baby, I'm walking," it read.