WAFAA--Women And Families Ascending Association serving their NJ Communities and a great example for others

I had the pleasure of hearing Wafaa Saed, the leader of the WAFAA organization, at an important conference for advocates and protective mothers. Thankfully I jotted her number down and thought to be in touch with her a few years later. She invited me to the annual dinner which will be held Saturday, March 30th, 2019 at 4pm in Bergen County NJ. Unfortunately I am not able to attend as planned and let them know. However I will make an effort to visit that area for a few days later in the year and see their amazing outreach which has been recognized by many esteemed supporters from local to statewide level positions. Their website with a slide show and list of services is wafaaorganization.org. They are a non-profit providing many social services and other assistance to families.

The 14th Annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference will be held in Albany NY April 26th-28th, 2019. On their website are links to previous talks and slide shows. The CA Protective Parents Association has a newsletter with important points to educate our country about, including House Resolution 72 which would provide a critical legislative safety measure to protect children by putting them in the initial care of their  protective parent (generally the mother in the situation when there is a victim of domestic abuse) in a custody battle.  The statistics are staggering, costly and heartbreaking.

Sadly this conference comes on the heels of  a murder-suicide in Sheffield MA, about an hour from Albany NY where the victim happened to work as an attorney. Her twins and young child were also victims of their father who apparently committed the crimes before ending his own life. He also was an attorney (who worked from home as a patent attorney) and seemed to friends to be a caring father. Thank you for considering ways to support one another in your own circles to get help for any concerns and to have a safety plan if you ever need to exit or not go home. Having a bag of clothes and copies of basic paperwork and regular times away for a day or more can help one get a better sense of a normal safe environment. There is much we can all learn and other posts addressing these ideas.