In addition to her job as Associate General Counsel for West Virginia University, Kylie is actively involved in her work supporting the West Virginia Court Appointed Special Advocates Association (CASA) (https://www.wvcasa.org/). Established in 1995, the West Virginia CASA Association is part of a national volunteer program that trains and supports community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in the foster care system. CASA volunteers play an essential role from the time a child enters foster care until they are placed in safe, permanent homes.
CASA volunteers are appointed by Circuit Court Judges to represent the best interest of children who have been removed from their home due to abuse and neglect. They typically serve on one case at a time and remain an advocate for that child until permanency is reached by submitting written reports to the judge based on their findings. CASA volunteers are everyday citizens, who often work full-time jobs, though they must go through the application, screening, and training process before they can be officially sworn in. Once assigned to a case, the volunteer visits the child on a regular basis. The volunteers also talk with everyone in that child's life: parents & relatives, teachers, medical professionals, attorneys, social workers, and others. They use the information they gather to inform judges and others of what the child needs and to make sure that the child’s best interests are put first.
Kylie has been a Monongalia County CASA volunteer since 2017, where she has served as a volunteer for multiple children and has served one child for more than four years. One of the locations where she visited a CASA child was a residential facility in northern West Virginia. During her visits while her CASA child was placed there, she organized group activities for all the resident children and continues to volunteer her time there now even though her CASA child has moved to a different placement. One of her most rewarding experiences as a CASA volunteer came when her CASA child was in a residential facility with Christmas approaching. Many of the other children at the facility had relatives that took them home from the facility for the holiday, her child did not. Kylie worked with other team members, and the Judge approved her taking the child home to spend Christmas with her family.
She is currently President of the Board of Directors for Harrison County CASA (https://www.hcwvcasa.org/about_us). In this role she engages in fundraising activities like the annual CASA Super Hero 5K and CASA Quarter Auction. She also presides over Board activities and helps support staff in their efforts to raise funds and provide support for children in the foster care system. The Harrison County CASA program runs a foster closet that provides items to foster and kinship placements.
Kylie resides in Wadestown, West Virginia and was nominated by Shawn Morgan. Thank you, Kylie, for being more than a lawyer!
Original source can be found here.
