'I need $20,000': GoFundMe page aims to get Sally Faulkner's kids home
A GoFundMe page seeking $20,000 has been started up for Sally Faulkner, the Australian mother at the centre of the Beirut child abduction scandal.
Ms Faulkner said she has spent the $150,000 she made from her controversial memoirs detailing her Lebanese arrest after attempting to snatch her two children away from their father.
Back in Australia and still without custody of Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6, Ms Faulkner insisted she was not seeking fame or fortune from her situation and the money made was quickly spent on legal fees and repaying debts.
"These are MY babies I gave birth too and I will simply just NOT give up on them having their right to their mother," Ms Faulkner wrote on the Facebook page dedicated to bringing her kids home.
“At one stage I had three sets of lawyers working on three different sets of legal issues.
“I spent a small amount of that money by paying off my car and putting some of it towards a house which I would have been able to provide for my children a year prior IF my ex husband hadn't of decided to alienate our children from their mother."
After slamming media agencies for “taking a million photos a second” as she returned to her partner’s property, the Brisbane mum insisted it was a friend that set up the GoFundMe Page and that the initial request of $50,000 was a mistake.
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“Now I need 20000 thousand to start up a custody case in Lebanon (apologies to the public as it was posted at 50000 thousand on the go fund me, because I didn't set it up and don't actually know you could change it once it had been set),” she added.
Forced to return home to live with her mother and reportedly left with nothing, Ms Faulkner said $50,000 was spent paying off credit cards, legal bills and money borrowed from family, $50,000 on lawyers and lost $50,000 to taxes.
Following her release from a Lebanese jail, Ms Faulkner's child abduction charges were dropped in exchange for her renouncing claims of custody and getting a divorce from Mr Elamine.
So far the GoFundMe page has raised $8,279 through 209 donations with many sympathising with the grieving mother.
“Good luck, I can only imagine the pain your feeling and the children. I only wish I could do more,” Rachael Martini wrote alongside her donation.
“In your fight for justice to get your beautiful children back where they belong - with their mother....I will donate more along the way as I am able....love to you and your family,” Frances Manusu added.
