“Nationally, of the 60+ age cohort, 1 in 10 adults experience some form of mistreatment each year.”[1] National Center on Elder Abuse
“For every case of reported elder abuse, neglect or exploitation, about 23 instances go unreported.”[2] VT Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Aging and Independent Living
Elder abuse occurs in many forms: physical
abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, abandonment and financial
exploitation. Elder abuse can occur in any setting and can be by a person
or entity. There could be a preexisting relationship of trust—and in most
cases victims know their abuser—or a connection can be new.[1]
Each of us can play an important role in preventing elder abuse. The first step is recognizing and identifying signs of abuse. These steps are outlined by the Attorney General’s Elder Protection Initiative and the Department of Aging and Independent Living in this linked release commemorating World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
Knowing how to contact the agencies and organizations that can assist is essential to eliminating elder abuse. To simplify the reporting process, the following is a list of resources.
REPORT
CONTACT
Life-threatening situation
911
Suspected elder abuse, neglect or exploitation, including financial exploitation
If you are still not sure who to contact, call United Ways of Vermont 2-1-1 information and referral hotline (dial 211 or 802-652-4636). They are a great resource, connecting Vermonters to organizations and agencies. They have committed to enhancing their referral work specifically for calls related to elder abuse and exploitation.
We can all commit to ending elder abuse by serving those in our communities that may be preyed upon. Here, at the Consumer Assistance Program, to help prevent financial exploitation in scams, we distribute scam alerts and encourage recipients to share the information with friends, neighbors and loved ones. Anyone can sign up by calling us at 800-649-2424, or by visiting our website ago.vermont.gov/cap/stopping-scams. The Elder Protection Initiative has even more information on how you can help on the Get Involved page.
This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email AGO.CAP@vermont.gov.
May 10th marked National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. We want to thank Vermont’s early educators for all that they do for Vermont’s children and families by honoring them as our May Vermonters of the Month. To do this, we asked Let’s Grow Kids, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025, to help us highlight the stories of two inspiring early educators—Betsy Barstow of Nature’s Niños and Samara Mays of Montpelier Children’s House.
Early educators play a critical
role in the development of our youngest Vermonters. According to Let’s Grow
Kids, 70 percent of Vermont children under the age of 6 have all available
parents in the labor force, meaning they’re likely to need some form of childcare.
This, coupled with the fact that the first five years of a child’s life is when
the brain is developing most rapidly, provide early educators with the
opportunity to help children build a strong foundation for all future learning
and development.
“Our early educators are
literally building the brains of Vermont’s future leaders by giving young
children the nurturing care and early learning opportunities that will set them
up for success in school, work and life,” says Let’s Grow Kids CEO Aly Richards. “They’re with our children
during the most critical time of development and they are supporting families
as well as employers. We all benefit from the incredible work early educators
do every day.”
We had the opportunity to meet
Betsy Barstow and Samara Mays at their programs, in Adamant and Montpelier
respectively, to hear their stories and see their amazing work in action.
Attorney General T.J. Donovan with Betsy Barstow at Nature’s Niños
Betsy Barstow
Drawing on nearly 30 years of
experience as a teacher, Betsy Barstow is shaping the lives of
prekindergartners (Pre-K) at her 52-acre homestead in Adamant, Vermont. Her
program, Nature’s Niños, is a
nature-based Spanish-English Act 166 Pre-K. As a licensed Vermont Early
Childhood Educator and Registered Family Child Care Home Provider with
experience as a teacher in South America, Betsy offers both a bilingual
Spanish-English program and a Spanish Language immersion program for children
ages 3-5.
The students at Nature’s Niños
spend most of their day outside—exploring nature, sharing stories and meals, and
creating a sense of community while learning Spanish language and aspects of
Latin-American cultures. Betsy’s philosophy on early education is simple, but
incredibly impactful—”Young children are meaning makers. As they grow,
they are busy making sense of the world around them, making relationships with
the people in their life and building a self-concept. They are forming ideas
about what the world is like and how to be in this world.” Betsy says it’s her
intent to “show that the earth is an interesting, fascinating and beautiful place,
that the people in it may be caring and responsive and that the individual is a
valued contributor to the community no matter what his/her age.”
Why did you get into the early education field? What’s the most rewarding thing about your work?
I’ve always related well to children and wanted to do something that
had an impact on their lives that encouraged development and a love of
learning. Teaching touches lives and opens doors—I wanted to have a part in
that. As a college student, I double majored in Elementary Education and
Special Education at Trinity College. When I graduated, I moved to Cali,
Colombia where I taught in a bilingual school and dreamed of starting my own
school someday. When I returned to Vermont in 1988, I worked as a teacher in
several local schools, teaching Spanish and art to different age groups. Influenced
by becoming a mother and raising two children with my spouse and later working
in the East Montpelier Elementary preschool, I realized how profound this period
of time is in creating the foundation of a person’s life and decided to enroll
in the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative (VHEC). The master level classes
I took provided me with an additional endorsement in early childhood education.
Vermont’s Act 166 allowed me to design a home-based Pre-K program that enables
me to share my love of nature and multi-cultural based experiences, similar to
those that I gave my own children, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
The most rewarding aspect of this work is being a part of these
children’s lives, offering them experiences and watching them grow. My
curriculum introduces the philosophy of the three cares—caring for self, caring
for others and caring for the earth. This fosters a love of nature, a sense of
beauty and an appreciation for the world around us. It also creates a community
of caring for each other and ourselves. It is rewarding to see children become
considerate, curious learners with a sense of wonder, thus laying the basis for
lifelong learning.
What do
you think is important for Vermonters to know about early education?
Early education is broader than when a child goes to a home, school,
or center-based program, it includes their experiences at home and in the
community. For a young child, all experiences, are part of their education and
form their life view, the habits they develop and their self-esteem, how they relate
to others, pursue their interests and navigate life. Additionally, I would like Vermonters to know
that because of Act 166, and their contributions, all children have the
opportunity to go to a Pre-K program to learn, grow, and develop.
How does
your program support the community?
Nature’s Niños supports the creation of community among the children’s
families and the act of community service.
Our beginning of the year picnic and other family events, are intended
to help build relationships and develop support systems. We reach out further
to the community by sharing some of the harvest from the school garden with local
organizations like the Twin Valley Senior Center and the FEAST nutrition program at the Montpelier Senior
Activity Center. The children learn through these acts of service that if you
have food, you share it.
Why is
early childhood education important for Vermont?
As Vermonters, we may bear in mind that children are future adult
citizens and ask ourselves how we all can foster and be involved in nurturing an
engaged, empathetic, secure, and globally minded citizenry. We can ask
questions to facilitate children’s thinking, quest for answers, creative
expression and spend time with them to let them know that they are valued and
loved.
What impact, if any, has being an
early educator had on your life?
Being an educator inspires my own creativity when I think about what kinds of experiences I want to offer and it gives me pause to reflect on what core values I feel are important to share. It has also allowed me to build lasting relationships with the children I’ve taught and their families that extend beyond when the children leave the program. This has given me a tremendous amount of joy in my life.
Attorney General T.J. Donovan with Samara Mays at the Montpelier Children’s House
Samara
Mays
Samara Mays’ journey into early childhood education began during her own childhood, when her father, Larry
Parker, operated a daycare out of their home and later opened the Montpelier Children’s House
in 1984. Now, 35 years later, Samara serves as director, co-owner, and a
teacher at the Children’s House, continuing the legacy of her father—who is
currently enjoying retirement.
Memories from Samara’s childhood and early adulthood are intertwined
with the goings-on at Children’s House. She spent many afterschool hours and
summers working alongside her father and other teachers observing the art of
communicating respectfully and engaging joyfully in the education of young
children. Though she initially moved away from the field of education and
pursued a master’s degree in Rural Sociology, Samara was called to service when
her mother became ill and her father increasingly found himself needing to be
away from the program. While working for a Montpelier-based nonprofit, she
filled in at Children’s House where she could—early in the morning, the
occasional lunchtime and late afternoons. Each time feeling joy and ease as she
slid back into the familiar routines of the program and her true calling, early
education.
Samara left her nonprofit job after the birth of her second child, and,
after a while began to care for other children in her home. She formally joined
Children’s House in 2010, when her youngest child reached enrollment age and
she was able to naturally transition the home care she provided for of other
children over to Children’s House.
“During my time at Children’s House, I have grown considerably as an
educator and administrator. I have been endlessly grateful for the support and
knowledge of those I have become connected to in the field – teachers,
colleagues, mentors and of course, children and families. I am walking a path
where, like my students, I am constantly curious and enthusiastic about the
hundred ways to know, investigate and experience the world together.” Samara
says, “I am tremendously proud of my little school.”
Why did you get into the
early education field? What’s the most rewarding thing about your work?
As a young person, early education touched so many aspects of my life but as a career, never crossed my mind. Watching my father grow the business made clear that it was very hard work for comparatively little compensation. That said, when I moved back to town in my mid-20’s I was drawn to the family business with a new perspective, particularly about how engaging, challenging, and rewarding it is to work with children and families. When I started at Children’s House, there wasn’t a clear decision that I would take over the business—just that I was dipping my toes in the water a little bit. It was a huge learning curve, particularly learning about the business management aspects of the job. I started taking classes at Community College of Vermont to get my Director’s Credential and I really got hooked on learning about how children grow, develop and acquire knowledge and understanding. I really love the science behind early childhood education. I formally took over as Director about five years ago. Children’s House is 35 years old this year and I’m really proud to continue the program’s legacy forward into the future. I understand and value the huge importance of high-quality early education—not only for the healthy growth and development of young children, but also for our local economy. Families need access to high-quality, affordable care for their children.
The most rewarding thing about my work: I love facilitating learning
and discovery. When you give a child the right environment, and the time and
space for them to construct their own knowledge and understanding, you get to
witness that spark of discovery that occurs. Imagine the magic and wonder of
creating a new color for the first time! Working with young children allows me
to share in the joy and wonder of discovering the world all over again. I also
treasure the relationships made with children and their families. Early
childhood is a marvelous and messy time, and we get to be in the thick of it
with children and their families.
I also have to mention how rewarding it is to work with my
co-teachers. Working in early education requires that you think on your feet and adapt to the constantly changing needs of the
children and the group. My co-teachers are endlessly brilliant, flexible and creative.
Working in a busy and fast-paced environment requires a special kind of
communication and trust that we’ve been able to cultivate over time. I’m so
grateful to have found dedicated and talented early educators that are as passionate as I am about the value of our children’s earliest years.
What do
you think is important for Vermonters to know about early education?
This
is a big one! High-quality early education is the foundation of growing healthy
humans. We know that birth to five is the most important period for brain
development. Every experience, every interaction becomes a part of how children
create their understanding of the world, their relationships with others and
their sense of themselves. Investment in early education pays off—we know this.
High-quality early childhood education has been found to benefit children
through adulthood and this benefit is even realized in subsequent generations.
We’re learning how important it is for children to develop social and emotional
skills and how these “softer skills” are predictive of later school
success. If we (meaning Vermont and the
United States) want good outcomes for children and families there must be real
and sustained investment in early education.
High-quality
early care requires that we, as a community, make the decision to invest in
early educators. Working in early education asks teaching professionals to
subsidize the cost of childcare by making less money than peers with the same
amount of education and often forgoing benefits such as health insurance,
dental and retirement. It isn’t fair. While our program works hard to
compensate teachers as well as we can, we’ll always come up against the
challenge of affordability for families. Finding a balance that honors the
value of early educators with livable compensations and maintains accessibility
to all families is the challenge that every early education program will
continue to face.
How does your program support the community?
We provide care for 25 children and families, most of who live in and
around Montpelier. As an Act 166 prequalified partner, we are able to provide
publicly funded Pre-K to our students for ten hours a week, 35 weeks a year.
This absolutely helps with the total cost of tuition for families. We operate
ten hours a day, year-round. Our availability and public funding mean we can be
supportive and accessible to working families. We also provide warmth,
continuity and community to our young people.
Our program aims to be in partnership with young families. As a parent
myself, I am well aware of both the joys and the challenges that are part of
these years. We all juggle a seemingly endless list of to-dos. Our goal is to
provide a nurturing place for kids to experience joy and be a part of something
bigger than themselves—even when growth comes with pains. If we do this well,
we make space for parents to work, and meaningfully engage in our community and
economy. By providing access to high-quality, affordable care we fill a need
for communities such as Montpelier to attract young families. In that way, we
are an essential part of the local economy.
Why is
early childhood education important for Vermont?
As I’d mentioned earlier, high-quality early education is
foundational. It is the foundation on which we grow Vermonters who are eager
and enthusiastic learners, individuals who can manage relationships and work
through conflict, problem-solvers who are ready to tackle new and challenging
issues. This is the foundation we are setting for the next generation of
citizens.
In the shorter term, high-quality early education is an absolutely
necessity to attract and retain young people to Vermont. Families need and
value quality care for their children so that they can work and support this
state’s economy. Without adequate childcare options, growing businesses is a
non-starter.
What
impact, if any, has being an early educator had on your life?
I think that being an early educator is not what you do, but who you are. To me it’s one of those professions that becomes a part of your whole life. I truly love the work that I do. It is engaging, challenging and never, never dull. I get to work with incredible people whose skills and dedication to children and families are truly inspiring. I have the tremendous privilege of sharing in the early years of people’s children and am grateful for the trust that they have placed in me.
I am not an early educator because I love kids (which I do, of course) but because I feel a responsibility to do my part to protect childhood—to ensure that the young people in my care know that they are loved, valued and capable. All children deserve the opportunity to feel as though they are a part of something bigger than themselves and are responsible not only for themselves but for one another. Creating a school that instills this knowledge is the best way that I know of to be a citizen. It is hard work and demands your whole heart. It is worth every minute.
At the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP), we always get a bit nostalgic during graduation season. It is a time of passage as we bid farewell to students that once worked in our office as part of our service-learning course. We hope that they will take with them the skills they learned while providing service to citizens of Vermont. Specifically, we hope they will know how to spot scams. We caution students to be especially suspicious about student loan consolidation scams.
We urge graduates to beware of student loan consolidators that lure grads to pay for their services when the amount of school loans seems daunting. Scammers may claim to offer consolidation services, require payment, and then offer nothing in return. In Vermont, all debt consolidation companies, also known as debt adjusters and debt management companies, must be licensed with Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation.
As student loans come due, there are many
resources available to students to help navigate repayment:
Vermont students can access VSAC for free guidance by calling 800-862-3177
If you are contacted by a company soliciting payment from you to help manage your student loan debt, hang up. Instead, connect with student loan management options by reaching out to the resources above. If you have been contacted by a scam consolidation company, contact the Consumer Assistance Program at 800-649-2424 to report it.
Businesses can be consumers too! Vermont is unique in that our Consumer Protection Act defines “consumer” to include businesses that are the consumer in a transaction, such as when purchasing goods or services that are not for resale (9 V.S.A. § 2451a(a)). If your business needs help, contact our Small Business Advocate by emailing AGO.SmallBusiness@vermont.gov or calling 800-649-2424.
Here are some recent
examples of how the Small Business Advocate has helped Vermont business
consumers:
Small business paid a listing service for over 5
years of online advertising when it realized that advertiser had published the
wrong phone number for the small business. The listing service offered to
refund the small business $450 to resolve the issue, but this was significantly
less than what the small business had paid for the service. Our Small Business
Advocate reached out to the listing service on the small business’ behalf and
was able to secure a refund of more than $4,000 to recapture the costs paid for the service.
Small business attempted to cancel their lease for credit card processing equipment (the lease was entered before new protections took effect on July 1, 2018), but the leasing company claimed that the small business owner was unable to cancel the lease agreement and needed to pay the remainder of the lease term. Our Small Business Advocate reviewed the lease contract and found that it did not conform to Vermont’s Home Solicitation Sales Act (9 V.S.A. § 2454). The leasing company agreed to cancel the contract, saving the business owner more than $600 over the course of the lease.
Small business signed up for a lead generator
service but was dissatisfied with the quality of the referrals they received.
Small business requested a refund but did not receive a response from the lead
generator. Frustrated by the lack of response, they contacted our Small
Business Advocate who brought the complaint to the lead generator’s attention
and facilitated a refund to the small business of nearly $300.
Does your business
need help? Review our office’s webpage for
small businesses and contact our Small Business Advocate today.
This is a monthly series in which the Attorney General will feature a Vermonter doing exemplary work in their community. Have someone you think should be featured? Email AGO.CAP@vermont.gov.
Julia Birnn Fields speaking with Attorney General T.J. Donovan at Birnn Chocolates of Vermont
Julia
Birnn Fields, 4th-generation owner of Birnn Chocolates of Vermont and our April Vermonter of the
Month, didn’t always know she would take over the family business. She felt
called to service when her father and uncle considered retirement.
Now,
almost ten years later, it’s clear that she and her husband Mel found the right
path: Her love for what she does shines through in her words.
Perhaps
most inspiring, she has prioritized helping her employees grow. Why? She says,
“Our employees are the heartbeat of our company and we would not exist without
them.”
Birnn
Chocolates hire many new Americans. Because English is a second language for
those employees, they started offering English lessons during the work day. It
all started because they “noticed that some of the most veteran employees for
whom English was a second language weren’t being promoted as quickly as native
English speakers.” Now, they work with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program
to continue the lessons indefinitely.
Julia
Birnn Fields exemplifies a connection to family, community, diversity and investing
in employees. We’re proud to honor her as our April Vermonter of the Month.
Tell us a little about yourself
(What is your official title? What has been your career path? How did you get
to where you are?):
I
am President and 4th-generation owner of Birnn Chocolates of
Vermont. My degree is in Elementary
Education, so the family business was not my chosen career path early on. After I graduated from college I taught skiing
at Sugarbush Resort, gave tours and repped events for Magic Hat, worked summers
for Appalachian Landscaping, and managed a seasonal restaurant. Each of those jobs taught me great life
lessons on how to deal with people both internally and externally in a wide
variety of businesses. Four years after
graduation, when I was skiing 100+ days in the winter and caretaking a private
island on Lake Champlain, my dad asked me what my plan was. I was a bit taken aback, as I thought I was
living a pretty darn good life, but from my father’s eyes it didn’t seem like
it was my forever path. My dad and uncle
co-owned the family chocolate business, and they were beginning to think about
retirement. My uncle doesn’t have kids
and I’m an only child so their plan was quite simple: if I wasn’t interested
they were going to sell. I honestly had
never even considered working for my family; it was always my dad and uncle’s
thing. However, the thought of them
selling the multigenerational business didn’t sit right with me, and I wanted
to at least explore the option before it was gone.
In 2010 my partner, Mel, and I made the life-altering decision to try the family business on for size and agreed to work for a year to see if it was a good fit for us. We knew we wanted to work together, whatever we did so this seemed like a logical option. Now, nine years later we are still here. Year one flew by, along with year two. We started in production, learning each job from the best, seasoned employees. I worked in the business in high school, so I did have some basic knowledge, but we still took the time to learn each position. We felt this step vitally important to truly understanding the business as a whole. Our roles evolved organically. We’d see an area that needed improvement and then help implement things to make people’s jobs easier. In doing so we not only gained respect from our coworkers, but also helped the company become more efficient. Year three we began talking about the future. It was clear we were quite happy in the business and were ready to talk seriously about succession. It took a couple of years to come up with a plan that felt really solid for all four parties involved. Mel and I became the 4th-generation owners in 2016 and simultaneously my dad and uncle retired. It was quite a big step but we all felt it was the right move for the company, our employees, and the bright future ahead. We’re now expecting a baby next month, the first of the 5th-generation!
What sets Birnn Chocolates of
Vermont apart from other truffle makers? What’s your mission or motto?
We
exclusively make chocolate truffles, no other products. We also only sell in bulk to the wholesale
market and do not have a retail store of our own. Our number one focus is our wholesale customers
and therefore our focus is on customer service and ensuring that our customers
are getting what they need in a timely manner.
We ship the same day that orders are placed, which is pretty unique in
our business. We also ship year-round
and cover the cost of extra insulation and ice packs during the warmer
months. We’re family owned and operated
so when you call you always get a person and we’re always willing to listen to
customer requests and make a sincere effort to accommodate them. We are extremely efficient in what we do
which helps tremendously with producing a high-quality product for a very
competitive price.
Our mission: Above and Beyond – Every Day, Every Way, Everyone.
Our motto: We make truffles, for people who sell truffles, to people who love truffles.
What inspired you to offer English
classes to your New American employees?
Mel
and I noticed that some of the most veteran employees for whom English was a
second language weren’t being promoted as quickly as native English speakers.
How did you promote the
opportunity to your employees? How did you ensure that these classes were
utilized?
We originally tried offering English classes before and after work and no one signed up. We were discouraged but understood why. We then met with the Vermont Department of Economic Development and received a grant for English lessons during the work day. The grant paid for half of the expense of hiring a teacher and paying our employees to attend the classes. Once the grant was completed, we wanted to continue offering this benefit to our English Language Learning employees so we made arrangements with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program to continue the lessons. We’ve offered English lessons for two years now and plan to continue them indefinitely.
What impact did offering these
classes have on your business?
With just two hours a week (plus some voluntary homework) we’ve seen a significant increase in confidence and English usage in the workplace. This also creates a more inclusive environment for others that don’t speak another language. Previously there were a few different languages being spoken and it could feel isolating to some when a group of people spoke freely next to them in a language they did not understand. We’ve really tried to get everyone involved with our efforts and have asked our native English speakers to help others with their vocabulary and pronunciation. We’ve worked hard to create a safe and trusting space where people feel comfortable asking for help and guidance with the English language. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Would you recommend this to other
small businesses? What advice do you have for other small businesses looking to
create organizational change or empower their employees?
We feel that empowering our employees is the single most important thing that we can do. Not only does it tell them that we’re invested in their well-being, it’s very rewarding watching them learn and grow in an environment we’ve helped to cultivate. We also hope that this will carry over to interactions with communities outside of the workplace, and to further that aim, we’ve encouraged a curriculum that isn’t solely based on chocolate or manufacturing vocabulary. We would most certainly encourage any and all businesses to develop their own programs. The rewards are priceless. Our employees are the heartbeat of our company and we would not exist without them.
Birnn Chocolates of Vermont Julia Birnn Fields speaking with Attorney General T.J. Donovan at Birnn Chocolates of Vermont Birnn Made in Vermont
