Helping Foster Kids Travel with Dignity

February 6, 2013

Duffel bags specially designed for CASA.
The duffel bags were specially designed for CASA. They zipper into flat, small squares so that case workers can conveniently store, transport, and hand them out.

For a child, being removed from their home to be placed in foster care is a traumatic experience. With hopes of easing their pain a little, the Community Foundation has been working to eliminate one small thing that makes the move even more upsetting: the use of large black garbage bags to transport their belongings.

The duffel bags were specially designed for CASA. They zipper into flat, small squares so that case workers can conveniently store, transport, and hand them out.

We set a fundraising goal of $30,000 to address this situation. Thanks to generous support from many of our donors, this goal was met. Grants designated for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of New Jersey enabled the organization to provide personal duffel bags for the 6,000 children who will go through the foster care system this year.

Typically victims of abuse or neglect, the children may be taken from their homes and placed with strangers. Once in the system, they face additional moves from one placement to another. Heavy-duty garbage bags are the customary “luggage” supplied for these transitions, and are also used for overnight visits home, to camp, and on school trips. With a duffel bag of their own, children can travel with dignity and avoid feeling stigmatized.

We’d like to thank our donors who used their charitable funds to help us achieve this goal. Their gifts are helping foster kids feel better about themselves — and face the world with a little more dignity.