Rob Scheer: Every Child Matters - A Closer Look At Foster Care

In Episode #20 on The Jen Mavros Show we embark on a heart felt journey into the story of a man who was in the foster care system and homeless to now being an exceptional parent to four gorgeous children, an advocate of dignity and Founder of Comfort Cases [a non-profit charitable organization providing comfort and support to children entering the foster care system]. Rob Scheer remembers the day his oldest children arrived on his doorstep with everything they owned in the world packed in tattered trash bags. It immediately brought back such painful memories for Scheer of carrying his own trash bag from place to place in the foster care system. How could it be that over 30 years later we still had not gotten it right?  How were we still asking children to pack up their life in a trash bag?  Where is the dignity in that for a child who is scared and vulnerable? As Scheer reflected on his time in care, he envisioned a case filled with items that would have been meaningful to him and made his transitions in the foster care system easier. In October 2013, an idea was born to host an event where people would come together to pack comfort cases for kids in care.  What started as a family and community project quickly grew into a volunteer led charitable organization.  Since its inception, Comfort Cases has distributed over 20,000 cases to primarily children in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area. Comfort Cases has grown to have a 15 member volunteer Board of Directors and many regular volunteers who help shop for items, organize and inventory donations, and pack and distribute cases to our partner social service agencies. Comfort Cases was founded on a mission to provide comfort and support to children entering the foster care system. We believe that every child has the right to a more humane experience in foster care, and that starts by providing them with a case to pack their belongings in instead of a trash bag.  Through the amazing support of the community, we have been able to expand our mission to include children that are facing crises. ​Every child deserves to know that they matter.  When Comfort Cases provides a case to a child in need, we not only offer them new items that they can keep during their journey, we also provide them with dignity and the notion that someone cares about what they are going through." This episode will certainly pull at your heart strings, one you won't want to miss.