Editor’s letter: from the desk of The Weekly’s Kim Doherty
What lengths would you go to in order to get your child back? What wouldn’t you do? I’ve been asking myself that question since I read our News Editor, Michael Sheather’s, interview with Sally Faulkner (see page 32), the Aussie mum at the centre of the 60 Minutes abduction furore earlier this year.
Would you break the laws of another country? Take ridiculous risks with your personal safety? Enter into a questionable deal with strangers? Leave one baby at home and embark on a dangerous mission to the other side of the world, in a desperate attempt to get your other children back?
Of course, you shouldn’t. Of course, you’d consider it. I don’t know a mother who wouldn’t.
Just to check, I embarked on a decidedly unscientific straw poll of seven of my girlfriends. They all said, to a woman, that if they found themselves in Sally’s situation, they would consider desperate measures, too.
One of them asked thoughtfully if Sally had explored every legal avenue. I pointed out that she had legal custody in Australia, but her kids’ Australian passports were about to expire. Whatever she did, she had to do it quickly or face an even more complicated situation.
Another friend turned white. Her ex of 10 years is Dutch. They have no formal custody arrangements, just trust, and their son has a European passport. She told the story of a colleague who was married to a Lebanese man, they separated and he has been taking their kids back to Lebanon on holiday every summer since they were little. Their youngest is now about to turn 18 and the woman’s ex has never let her down. In that case, trust, decency and honour won out. Sadly, for Sally, it hasn’t. Another friend asked hesitantly (she’s very polite) if we had paid Sally. The answer is no. Sally tells us she just wants her side of the story out there to clear up misconceptions – and in case, one day, her children want to know what she did and why.
She knows she may never have the chance to tell them herself.
Sally’s story isn’t as rare as we’d hope. Each year, an estimated 601 children are abducted by a parent in Australia (in echoes of Sally’s story, 43 per cent are taken from a footpath), including the two children a week who are taken overseas. Happily, the numbers appear to be falling and police resolve just under half of cases in 30 days.
Whatever you think of
Sally’s decisions, she has paid an enormous price, one that as a mum, makes me feel sick at heart for her. And sad for her children, who are paying the biggest price of all.