WORDS OF WISDOM

NO MORE CRYING ANGELS RELEASED TODAY

A BIG THANK YOU TO AMY'S BOOKSHELF FOR BEING THE FIRST TO REVIEW THIS BOOK

October 14, 2017

Inspiring and amazing

A true story that holds onto the reader and doesn't let go. Bella is a remarkable person who is sharing her experiences of survival and the life she led, and the life she was trying to escape from. It's more powerful and gripping because it's based on a true story. There is a light in this story, and it's more than just survival, surviving the past, and PTSD that is hard to ever get away from, but being able to share the story and help others. Healing helps heal others. A story that needs to be read and shared.

THE KEY TO SURVIVAL

NEVER GIVE UP!

TODAY'S MESSAGE FROM BELLA

Can't we put aside all the hate we see in the media every day and just try?

SURVIVORS - SOMETIMES IT IS HARD TO BE STRONG

YOU ARE NOT ALONE
VISIT LA BELLA MAFIA ON FACEBOOK

FINDING COURAGE

No one said it is easy to fight back or take the steps to protect yourself. But REMEMBER

CHILDHELP - PREVENTION and TREATMENT of CHILD ABUSE

VISIT THIS HELPFUL SITE IF YOU ARE A VICTIM 
OR KNOW OF A VICTIM

The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Serving the U.S. and Canada, the hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with professional crisis counselors who—through interpreters—provide assistance in over 170 languages. The hotline offers crisis intervention, information, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are confidential.
Bottom line, we are here to answer the call.

Quick action by attendant saves human trafficking victim

BY NEWSNER13 JULY 201

Flight attendant sees "help me" written on toilet wall and promptly urges pilot to call the police. 

For many of us, planes symbolize one thing: vacation. Indeed, the mood on airplanes can be quite jovial, with so many traveling to and from vacation spots and allowing their worries to wash away.

Shelia Frederick is a flight attendant for Alaskan Airlines. But one day, while on a routine flight to San Francisco, USA, something caught her eye.

A well-dressed man sat next to a young, blonde girl who was wearing shabby looking clothes. She looked up when Shelia passed by, and when she did, Shelia felt that the girl's eyes were drilling straight into her soul.

When Shelia tried to talk to the man, he was immediately unpleasant. She immediately felt something was wrong, and went to the airplane toilet where she left a piece of paper and a pen.

As she walked past the girl again, she signaled for her to go to the bathroom.

The girl followed Shelia's instructions, and when Shelia returned to the toilet, she found devastating words on the scrap of paper: "Help me", it said.

Shelia went straight to the pilot who helped summon the police to meet them upon landing in San Francisco, according to the Independent.

As it turns out, the girl was a victim of human trafficking and had been kidnapped two months earlier.

Shelia's encounter and saving of the young victim occured in 2011, when the girl was about 14-years-old. Following the incident, Shelia became a member of Airline Ambassadors International, an organization launched in 2009 by former flight attendant Nancy Rivard to help flight attendants get better training in detecting victims of human trafficking.

Members of the organization are now working with the US Customs and Border Police to counter human traffic.

Flight attendants can be much better equipped to deal with these kinds of incidents if they're paying attention to the right warning signs, Nancy explains.

A few weeks after the incident, Shelia received a phone call – it was the young girl she had saved. "Thank you for saving my life," the girl told her.

The girl had been reunited with her parents and was undergoing therapy to process through her difficult experience.

Shelia and the girl are still in touch.

The UN estimates that about 1.2 million children are victims of trafficking each year. Human trafficking is the third largest criminal activity in the world, after drugs and arms.

Both girls and boys are sexually exploited, for instance, as cheap labor or soldiers, for adoption or are forced to commit theft, beg or traffic drugs - and things that we can never accept.

Wisconsin Man Arrested in Toddler’s Alleged Beating Death: ‘Worst Case of Child Abuse’ Ever Seen

Most of us lead a life free from this kind of heartbreak--the loss of an innocent little child's life because of abuse. This is why awareness is so essential for prevention. Those who are abused but escape this fate might live with PTSD their whole lives, but they live. Those who do not, suffer this child's fate. And it isn't just children who are victims. Domestic and spousal abuse can be just as deadly. 

Bella Capo wrote her book No More Crying Angels (release date October 14, 2017) to bring her own abuse, both childhood and spousal, into the open in order to encourage victims to be victors, not victims. She survived and went on to help so many who walk in her shoes through the Facebook movement, La Bella Mafia.


click for full story seen on people crime

Wisconsin Man Arrested in Toddler’s Alleged Beating            Death: ‘Worst Case of Child Abuse’ Ever Seen

June 7, 2017
BY HARRIET SOKMENSUER•@HGSOKMENSUER

A Wisconsin man is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter in what police have called “the worst case of child abuse [we] have ever seen.”

Juan J. Maravilla, 30, was charged with first degree reckless homicide and child abuse after the girl’s mother brought her bruised body to a Green Bay-area hospital on May 25 after she had died, Green Bay police tell PEOPLE.

Hospital staff ordered an autopsy immediately, and the “results revealed the toddler’s death was not the result of one act of abuse but repeated abuse over an extended period of time,” Cpt. Kevin Warych of the Green Bay Police Department alleges to PEOPLE. Warych adds, “This is possibly the worst case of child abuse [we] have ever seen.”

Between the time of the girl’s death and her autopsy report, Maravilla was jailed for an unspecified alleged probation violation, Warych says. Jail records do not indicate the specifics of the alleged violation or the underlying offense.

Child Abuse and Neglect

How to Spot the Signs and Make a Difference

Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse and neglect, also leave deep, lasting scars. The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal and break the cycle—rather than perpetuate it. By learning about common signs of abuse and what you can do to intervene, you can make a huge difference in a child’s life.

Understanding child abuse and neglect

Child abuse isn’t just about black eyes. While physical abuse is shocking due to the marks it leaves, not all child abuse is as obvious. Ignoring children’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid are also child abuse. Regardless of the type of child abuse, the result is serious emotional harm. But there is help available. If you suspect a child is being abused, it’s important to speak out. By catching the problem as early as possible, both the child and the abuser can get the help they need.

Myths About Child Abuse and Neglect

Myth: It's only abuse if it's violent.

Fact: Physical abuse is just one type of child abuse. Neglect and emotional abuse can be just as damaging, and since they are more subtle, others are less likely to intervene.

Myth: Only bad people abuse their children.

Fact: Not all abusers are intentionally harming their children. Many have been victims of abuse themselves, and don’t know any other way to parent. Others may be struggling with mental health issues or a substance abuse problem.

Myth: Child abuse doesn't happen in “good” families.

Fact: Child abuse doesn't only happen in poor families or bad neighborhoods. It crosses all racial, economic, and cultural lines. Sometimes, families who seem to have it all from the outside are hiding a different story behind closed doors.

Read Full Article - Make a Difference

ABUSE IS ABUSE - PLAIN AND SIMPLE

I was talking to MaMa B. ( Morgan St James) recently about something that traumatized me. 

It’s so important to say that it doesn’t matter how much schooling you have, how much education or establishment .. or even the love you may have for a person. That does NOT make you immune from abuse and the reaction to abuse happening again. It’s imperative to understand the warning signs Learn from me!

Although I am no longer a Child, abuse is still abuse. I have a long time friend who was so close to my heart I would have given him the world just for being such an amazing friend for so many years. Then warning signs began pushing me into (PTSD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Flight or Fight Mode but my first reaction was DENIAL!  How could someone I am this close to hurt me? In his eyes, it was “all in play.” I walked away from the experience with bruises on my body and my heart and soul-- him holding an advance copy of my book in one hand saying he’s for the cause of La Bella Mafia and the other reaching for my throat. Again, “all in play.” I realize I lost a very dear friend because I will not and cannot stand for “play” of this sort.

I also realize that with the dissociative disorder I developed as a child in order to be able to exist despite so much abuse, and what happened with my ex husband when he turned abusive, the reaction would be naturally there. When I went to give a talk to abused women and children in a secret location for their protection, I needed to remember what it is like to be hurt by someone you love and trust. That is how we counsel on the La Bella Mafia Facebook page.

It’s not easy to just… “let go”. You love this person and you want to make it better for them, but you can’t. We have to dig deep to find that self worth again. We have to reach down and find that strength in us that we all have in order to help ourselves and our children.

Although now I am basically hiding in plain sight, I have been in some form of hiding for nearly eleven years now.. ten years of therapy, 2 1/2 years of school, a book ready to publish and a movement to help abuse victims. So most people would think a reaction like like that wouldn’t happen. Let me tell you that it happens to abuse victims who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers and the list goes on!  

Once I became aware of triggers, I was able to begin the healing stages and continue on this journey I am on. I am a strong woman .. STRONG woman… and I take this experience to help others to the FULLEST of my abilities. My heart is so huge it gets blind sometimes. It happens. So I say to you.. and to me.. WE ARE WORTH GOOD THINGS!  WE DESERVE GOOD THINGS!

With this attitude I am ready to march forward and get the show on the road! My book is scheduled to publish in October 2017, but will be offered for pre-order in July.

I love you all and thank you all for your loving support! Paying it forward one more time. God Bless you! BELLA CAPO

INCREDIBLE MOVING COMPANY HELPS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

An incredible moving company in California helps victims of domestic violence by moving their belongings at no charge. 

After starting the company with his brother 18 years ago, owner Aaron Steed was at first surprised by the calls: "I’d periodically get calls from someone — usually a woman — fleeing an abusive relationship. There were a lot of intense moments and crying… I remember the conversations pretty vividly and feeling a tremendous amount of panic and sadness."

Handling those phone calls made it very real very quick. As the jobs went on, we realized we were potentially saving lives.After recognizing the scale of the need and unwilling to take money from people in such distress, the brothers decided to make free moving services for people fleeing violent situations a company policy.An incredible moving company in California helps victims of domestic violence by moving their belongings at no charge.

The company, Meathead Movers, primarily employs student athletes and works with local domestic violence shelters to ensure that all movers are trained to handle the tense situations they may encounter during a move. 

Such experiences, Steed believes, are important for his young employees and their understanding of domestic violence.“I can’t help but think and hope that it changes their perception of themselves and their ability to have a major impact to do something that can really help someone in need.”

As for the survivors themselves, Meathead Movers’ rapid and discreet service has been invaluable. “They’re wonderful, sensitive, caring and enthusiastic.They help turn something that had been associated with something that was so incredibly traumatic into a celebration of moving to their new homes and to a new life,” says Kathleen Buczko, executive director of Good Shepherd Shelter, a refuge for homeless women and children in Los Angeles.

For those who would like to help, the company asks supporters to donate to domestic violence shelters in their own communities — you can find listings for US shelters (https://www.domesticshelters.org/) and for shelters around the world (http://www.hotpeachpages.net/). They also encourage other business owners to get involved in helping end domestic violence at http://www.meatheadmovers.com/pledge/

To read more about the compassionate movers of Meathead Movers in the LA Times, visit http://lat.ms/1TZdG9l