Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Martha Trombley
(802) 828-2148
October 11, 2000
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Karen McGauley is Hired to Start Up “Safe At Home” Program

Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz has hired Karen McGauley as the coordinator of the Secretary of State Office’s “Safe at Home” program. The “Safe at Home” program protects victims of domestic violence, rape or stalking from being tracked down through Vermont’s public records systems by enabling qualified Vermonters to use the Secretary of State’s Office as their legal address.”

Ms. McGauley, of Fayston, Vermont, has previously served the State of Vermont as Organization Operations Analyst at the Department of Corrections. In 1995 Ms McGauley received her Bachelors degree from Franklin Pierce College in sociology and psychology and earned a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Vermont in 1997.

Through the Safe at Home program Vermont will join a growing number of states emerging to confront the epidemic of domestic violence in a unique way that affords address confidentiality to its victims. Markowitz said, “One of the biggest dangers to victims who move to escape an abuser is that they will be tracked down through our public records system. Safe at Home will help those who participate in the program in keeping their home, work, or school address confidential by providing them with a substitute address. It is our hope that, once up and running, this program will give these especially vulnerable Vermonters an extra layer of security as part of an over all safety plan.”

The Address Confidentiality legislation is modeled after a similar program developed by Washington State’s Secretary of State. The Vermont program was developed by a Task Force, convened by Secretary Markowitz and Judith Sutphen, the Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Women.

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