Hello Health, Moms Empowered
Foster Care Advocate and Comfort Cases Founder with Dr. Rob Scheer
Send us Fan Mail Dr. Rob Scheer Founder & CEO, Comfort Cases | Foster Care Advocate | CNN Hero | Author | National Speaker | Father At any given time, more than 390,000 youth are in foster care in the United States. Nearly 700 children enter the system each day — and many arrive with their belongings in a trash bag. Rob Scheer knows this reality firsthand. As a teenager, after leaving the abusive home of his birth parents, Rob entered foster care in Virginia carrying his possessions in a torn trash bag. When he turned 18, his foster parents told him he had “aged out” and could no longer stay, as they were no longer receiving the government stipend that supported his placement. The home he had trusted was, in that moment, no longer a home. He left carrying that same trash bag and became homeless while still a senior in high school. After finding the grit to graduate high school while still homeless, Rob joined the United States Navy. He has often shared that he enlisted not out of patriotism at the time, but because the Navy offered something he desperately needed: a place to sleep and three meals a day. Following his military service, he built a successful career in banking before he and his husband Reece began growing their family through foster care adoption. Two children joined their home first. Just months later, two more siblings arrived. Years after that, their fifth child came home at age 18. Each child arrived the same way Rob had decades earlier — carrying their belongings in trash bags. Forty years had passed. Nothing had changed. Children in foster care were still being handed trash bags to carry the few possessions that represented their entire lives. That realization became the catalyst for Comfort Cases. Founder & CEO, Comfort Cases In December 2013, the Scheer family hosted their first “Packing Party,” assembling backpacks filled with new pajamas, books, blankets, and essential personal care items for children entering foster care. Shortly thereafter, Comfort Cases was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Today, Comfort Cases has distributed more than 320,000 Comfort Cases® and Comfort XL Duffle Bags to youth in foster care across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. While the organization is widely known for replacing trash bags with backpacks and duffels, its broader mission is advancing dignity within the foster care system. Under Rob’s leadership, Comfort Cases has evolved from a grassroots initiative into a respected national voice for foster care reform and child welfare advocacy. The backpacks are visible. The dignity is transformational. National Recognition & Media Rob’s advocacy has been recognized nationally and internationally, including: · ● Named a CNN Hero (2018) · ● Frequent appearances on national media including The Ellen DeGeneres Show , Today , The View , and CBS Evening News (“Eye on America”) · ● Featured in Bryce Dallas Howard’s AppleTV+ documentary Dads · ● Featured in the HBO Max documentary Somewhat Familiar with Pedro Andrade In 2017, an Upworthy video sharing Rob’s story received more than 150 million views, becoming one of the most watched videos in the platform’s history. Author, Podcast Host & Speaker Rob is the author of A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time and the host of the award-winning podcast Fostering Change , now in its seventh season. A nationally sought-after keynote speaker, Rob addresses foster care, resilience, nonprofit leadership, community responsibility, and youth dignity. In 2022, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Lynn University and delivered the university’s commencement address — a moment he describes as both surreal and deeply meaningful. He is quick to add, however, that even with a doctorate, he still occasionally struggles with the difference between “there,” “they’re,” and “their.” Personal Life Rob lives in Maryland on a small farm with his husband Reece, their five children, and an assortment of animals including dogs, goats, chickens, and a pig named Penelope. His mission remains simple and urgent: No child entering foster care should ever have to carry their life in a trash bag. Visit www.gethellohealth.com @hellohealthnutrition on instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok Support the show
