Sally Faulkner is a woman on a mission. It’s been nearly three weeks since she returned to Australia after the attempted retrieval of her children ended in jail time. And while the drama around the involvement of 60 Minutes has faded, Sally’s resolve to be reunited with her children has not.
In an open letter published on Mamamia, Sally says that her fight to get her children back has been the hardest struggle of her life. “I struggled to keep my heavy heart above my drowning tears,” she writes.
Speaking of the failed attempt to reclaim her son and daughter, Sally says: “As a mother I’d do anything for my children – anything! Just like you reading this now. You’d move heaven and earth to make sure your child felt loved and secure and needed.”
Sally has vowed to carry on fighting to get her children back. “I guarantee you one thing. I will bring my children home and they will know that both Mummy and Daddy love them, because both parents are important and parental alienation is child abuse,” she says.
While Sally’s situation may seem shocking, cases of children being separated from one of their parents are scarily common. The anguish that Sally must be experiencing now is something that thousands of parents in similar situations will relate to.
Sarah is a 35-year-old mother-of-three from Sydney. Sadly, she hasn’t seen her children since the end of 2015 when she left them with their British father in the UK.
The plan had been that they would enjoy a family holiday with their dad and his relatives, and he would return them to their home in time for the new school year. But while she trusted her ex-husband, he wasn’t true to his word.
Sarah with her three children
“When I found out their Dad wasn’t going to return them to me as we had always agreed, I collapsed. My body couldn’t hold me up anymore. It felt like my heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe. I have been living every day in a state of disbelief and shock,” she says.
Months later, Sarah is still living without her children. Although Sarah has the law on her side, the nature of family disputes like this are very complex and take time to resolve. In the meantime, she faces the daily agony of living without her children.
“As a mother having no control or say over your children’s lives is just unthinkable. To have brought your children up and loved and cared for every aspect of their lives and then to have all that taken away leaves you untethered. It feels like your life is in free fall,” she says.
Although Sarah’s children are on the other side of the world, she does have regular contact with them. Conversations are bitter-sweet – she enjoys hearing their voices, but she is conflicted by the questions they ask.
“I have always promised that I would be there for them no matter what. That mummy will always tell them the truth and that they can ask me everything and anything without fear or judgement. Now I have the horrendous and heart-wrenching task of having to tell them what no one wants to hear ‘I don’t know sweetheart, “ she says.
“For now I have to settle with telling them I love them with my whole heart. That I love them to the moon and back. To Australia and back. That they are the stars in my sky and sun in my day and when I see them in June I will hug them until my heart stops hurting.”
You can contribute to Sarah’s Go Fund Me campaign here
