When Rob Scheer was a 12-year-old walking into the foster care system in the 1970s, he carried everything he owned in a trash bag.
His case worker told him to shove his belongings into a trash bag to quickly escape an abusive home, and the pattern repeated over and over until he was an adult.
When he aged out of the system at 18, he packed a trash bag for the final time.
The five children he adopted with his husband, Reece, each had similar stories, navigating the foster care system with just a trash bag full of items to their names.
As an adult, Rob was shocked by how little the whole experience had changed since he was a kid.
“When my children arrived and each one of them had a trash bag, I knew we as a society failed,” Scheer told CBS News.
This is what spurred him to create Comfort Cases, a nonprofit that provides foster youth with their very own backpacks and luggage — instead of a plastic bag.
Since its founding in 2013, the organization has donated more than 250,000 cases to children across the United States. Recipients also get a brand new pair of pajamas, personal care items, a book, a stuffed animal, and other necessities, tied with a ribbon in their respective packs.
“The Comfort Case is a wonderful, trauma-informed invention,” Suzanne Friedman, Ph.D. shares on the nonprofit’s website.
“Children who have learned that they are unimportant receive new things of their own. Toiletries and dental supplies communicate the importance of self-care and self-worth. The stuffed toy and blanket help soothe and comfort. The book provides a healthy distraction and intuitively teaches an important component of stress management. The journal and coloring book help to calm distressing feelings.”
Scheer and his family held their first “packing party” to prepare and distribute donated items in 2013 and have since expanded across the country — including Puerto Rico — and recently in the United Kingdom.
“Children in foster care are the responsibility of the entire community,” Scheer told the Silicon Valley Voice. “Investing in their future is essential for the betterment of society.”
His efforts have paid off. In the past two years, according to CBS News, Maryland, Texas, and Oregon have all banned the use of trash bags in foster care. Similar legislation was also recently introduced in New York City.
On an individual level, thousands of young people have Scheer to thank for their restored dignity.
“To carry your stuff in a trash bag, it makes you feel like this is your fault, you’re worth nothing, none of this stuff is worth anything to anyone else,” Ashley Baker, who grew up in more than a dozen foster homes, told CBS News.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I'll grow up to be the change maker.’ But to find out there’s others who want to make that change, it does feel … so heartwarming to know.”
Even as the tides shift in local legislation, Scheer’s mission is far from over. In the 12 years since he began the organization, he has also created a scholarship and mentoring program called the Pathways Program to help young people aging out of foster care navigate the next phase in their lives with confidence.
And the Comfort Cases are the first step in that journey.
In 2024 alone, Comfort Cases distributed over 40,000 packs and hosted 69 packing parties across the country. They hope to double their efforts in 2025.
“This is a community effort from start to finish that would never have happened without the inspiration of Rob Scheer and local foster parents,” a volunteer shared in a testimonial for the nonprofit.
“I have seen children receive Comfort Cases. It is a game changer for them to have these brand new items, because it is a clear indication that someone cares about their well-being. It’s ever so much better than a trash bag. As long as there are children in need, we will keep right on packing.”
Header images courtesy of Comfort Cases
