BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Across West Virginia, CASA Advocates serve as voices for children in the foster care system by reviewing case files, making placement recommendations to judges and acting as trusted adults for children navigating difficult circumstances.
Most CASA volunteers are women, but organizers say there is a growing need for more men to step into the role, especially for boys in foster care who may lack male role models.
CASA of New River recently announced that its newest volunteer cohort includes two men from Beckley: Keith Bratt and Hal Dumas.
Bratt said he was inspired to become a volunteer after seeing the impact the program had on his wife, who has served as 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.”
Although Bratt has not yet been paired with a child, he said he already believes the program has a lasting impact.
“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.
Dumas said he has been familiar with CASA of New River since before the organization officially launched. He is married to the organization’s 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 address the lack of CASA services in Raleigh County, despite it being one of the state’s most populous counties. Currently, only four counties in southern West Virginia have CASA programs.
Dumas said recruiting more male advocates remains an important goal for the organization.
“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 online at casaofnewriver.org/volunteer.
