Jasmin Vega, a mother of three, is raising her 11-year-old daughter, Za’Ryah Hernandez-Ruffin, without her father, Deavoghn Hernandez-Ruffin, who was shot and killed on Father’s Day in 2012. Za’Ryah was eight months old. “I know what it was like not to have my father around for a period of my life,” says Jasmin. “He was active, very active. But then he went to prison for 10 years, and I yearned for him…To know that my daughter doesn't even remember a hug or kiss or anything from him bothers me, and it bothers her so badly.” Jasmin works hard to keep Deavoghn present in Za'Ryah's life and make the lives of all her children the best they can be. "Being present means not just saying what is available; It's doing. Its action. Presence is a verb…It's not a past-tense thing. It's what you do…As a mom, as a parent, and as a single parent, I have to be present."
Za’Ryah lays in bed on a school night while Jasmin reads her a bedtime story at their home in Rochester, N.Y., on April 27, 2023. The Build-a-Bear Workshop teddy bear on her right has a voice recording of her late father. The blanket shows a photo of her father, Deavoghn, and her mother, Jasmin, holding her as a newborn baby in the delivery room of the hospital.












