When her husband refused to return their children, and the Australian government and Lebanese justice system couldn't help, Sally Faulkner flew across the world with a television news crew to try and bring them home herself.
This is her story. This is for Lahela and Noah.
On Saturday, 9 May 2015, Sally Faulkner hugged her children as they left for a three-week holiday to Beirut with their father, Ali Elamine. Though Sally and Ali were separated, custody of two-year-old Noah and four-year-old Lahela had never been an issue. The kids lived with Sally in Australia and their dad often visited from his home in Beirut. To Sally, everything seemed fine.
Twenty-four hours after that farewell, Ali told Sally. 'The kids aren't coming back.' It was every parent's nightmare ... and it was only going to get worse.
Exhausting every avenue she could - pleading with Ali, using the courts, lobbying governments and contacting the media - she tried everything. Until her children were taken from her, Sally never thought she'd have the strength to fight so hard. But her love for Lahela and Noah left her with no choice.
Waking in a Beirut prison cell handcuffed to a 60 Minutes television reporter, and being forced to relinquish custody in Lebanon to gain her freedom, Sally couldn't help asking herself ...how did I get here?
Looking back, a 21-year-old Sally had scored her dream life, as an Emirates flight attendant. She travelled to exotic places, met some amazing people and was dazzled by a world far removed from the suburbs of Brisbane. Then, she met Ali, charming, sophisticated, who she thought was the perfect man, married him and had the children she'd always hoped for. But that dream life didn't last.
ALL FOR MY CHILDREN is the unforgettable true story of how one Australian mother's fairytale life fractured in the instant she kissed her kids goodbye
