Comfort Cases
Comfort Cases is a 501©3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire communities by bringing dignity and hope to youth in foster care. We believe that every child deserves to feel a sense of dignity.
More than 700 children enter the foster care system every day. Common practice is for the child to be handed a trash bag that they must use to quickly gather their belongings before being shuttled to a foster home or facility. The symbolic nature of the trash bag, an object meant for garbage and waste, can be representative of the situational instability experienced by a child in foster care. It can also represent a lack of self-worth, and paralyzing fear during a time of uncertainty.
Comfort Cases aims to eliminate the demoralizing practice of giving children trash bags by providing backpacks (“Comfort Cases”) filled with comfort and personal care items and duffle bags (“Comfort XLs”) for their belongings.
Over the past 10 years, more than 200,000 Comfort Cases and Comfort XLs, have been distributed in all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. The comfort cases are packed and prepared year-round by our volunteers: children, youth, and adults from civic organizations, schools, corporations, and religious organizations. “Packing Parties” are held at the Comfort Cases center in Rockville, MD at homes, businesses, and other institutions… conducted by “Good Humans.”
Our goal is for every social worker, police officer and foster care organization to have a supply of Comfort Cases and Comfort XLs to give to children when they are removed from their homes.