Who We Are
Do Right By Elders is an elder abuse advocacy platform founded by Kristina M. Button in honor of her grandmother Harriett Ann Brown of Norfolk, Virginia. Harriett spent more than forty years building a home, a marriage, and a legacy alongside her husband William. After William died in January 2015, the systems meant to protect her failed her. This platform exists to change those systems for Harriett and for every family navigating elder abuse right now.
Our Mission
Do Right By Elders exists to close the specific legal gaps in Virginia law that allow elder financial exploitation to continue unchecked gaps that protect abusers instead of victims, that activate after the damage is done rather than before it, and that leave families fighting a system that was never designed to protect the people it serves. We are advancing an eight-bill legislative package before the Virginia General Assembly for the January 2027 session. Each bill addresses a specific legal failure documented in Harriett’s case. Together they create automatic protections that activate the moment a court identifies an abuser so that families do not have to know the right attorney or the right procedure. So that the law works for the people it is supposed to protect before it is too late.
Our Founder
Kristina M. Button is a full time educator, elder abuse advocate, and the granddaughter of Harriett Ann Brown. She served as Harriett’s active Power of Attorney agent and primary caregiver for the final years of Harriett’s life alongside her mother Samantha Johnson, Harriett’s court-appointed guardian.
Kristina documented Harriett’s case in real time over nearly a decade through audio recordings, court proceedings, insurance records, and law enforcement records. She has plans to work directly with the Virginia General Assembly on elder abuse reform legislation and has filed formal complaints with the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia documenting systemic failures in the handling of Harriett’s case.
Where We Are
Formal complaints are currently pending before the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. A Virginia legislative package is advancing for the January 2027 General Assembly session. Legislative patrons have been identified and the work is underway.
Our Foundation
Everything this platform does rests on one principle the same principle Harriett Ann Brown carried her entire life.
“Do the right thing and the right thing will always come back to you.”
These bills are the right thing.
Do Right By Elders 