By Dr. Kristi Dumas
For CASA
Across West Virginia, CASA Advocates speak up for children in the foster care system. They review case files, make placement recommendations to judges and serve as a trusted adult.
The great majority of these volunteers are female. Simply put, West Virginia doesn’t have nearly enough male CASA Advocates.
But why does that matter? If children aren’t living with their parents, who do they ask for advice? For many, the answer is a CASA Advocate.
CASA Advocates help young people navigate college admissions, fights with friends and the many questions that accompany growing up:
“How do I tie a tie? How do I shave? How do I stop feeling so angry? What does it mean to be a good man?”
It’s important to have male role models who can answer these questions, and that’s why CASA of New River was delighted to announce that their newest cohort of volunteers includes two men.
Keith Bratt decided to volunteer because of his wife, who has been a CASA Advocate for the past year.
“She’s very passionate about it, and I’ve seen all the good things she’s doing to help young people in our community,” Bratt said. “Whenever she talks about the program and the person she works with, you can tell she’s very engaged. She’s enthusiastic to do whatever she can to support him.”
Even though he hasn’t been paired with a child yet, Bratt is already certain that CASA makes a difference.
“One of the new CASA Advocates that just joined my cohort, she was volunteering with a different program earlier in life. And she said she still keeps in contact with many of the children,” Bratt said.
Hal Dumas has known about CASA of New River since before the organization formally existed. He is married to its founder and executive director, Dr. Kristi Dumas.
“I saw her build this program from the ground up, and I saw her heart and her passion for those that were neglected and did not have a voice of their own,” Dumas said. “I decided to jump in and roll my sleeves up to a worthy cause that I felt passionately about. Like the old people say, ‘Many hands make light work.’”
CASA of New River was founded in 2024 to fill a critical gap in the Beckley area. Despite being one of the state’s most populous counties, Raleigh County had no CASA services. To this day, only four counties in southern West Virginia have CASA programs.
“We’ll have to figure out how to engage other men to want to be a CASA Advocate and make it cool to be an advocate as a male,” Hal Dumas said. “Helping boys in foster care can be tough because they’re older and they’ve been through so much abuse and neglect that sometimes people want to shy away from that. We have to convince them that they are needed and wanted and that this is an admirable thing to do.”
Anyone interested in becoming a CASA of New River Advocate can apply by visiting casaofnewriver.org/volunteer.
