Across New York, it is standard for a child in the foster care system to arrive at a stranger’s door, belongings held in a trash bag at their feet. As foster youth move into new placements, using bags intended for trash rather than proper luggage can exacerbate the loneliness and discomfort they face moving from home to home. Some lawmakers are trying to change this.
Sen. Jabari Brisport, D–Brooklyn, is the lead sponsor of a luggage for foster youth bill (S.3781) that would require the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to provide luggage to youth in foster care. Social services districts would distribute the luggage, and OCFS would be required to submit annual reports on the luggage’s distribution to the governor and Legislature.
This change would cost the state $200,000 per year, or less than $15 per bag.
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, D–Forest Hills, is sponsoring the Assembly version of the bill (A.5434). Were the bill to pass, suitcases, duffle bags and backpacks would replace trash bags and cardboard boxes for foster youth.
“Our possessions are more than just objects. They are symbols of our identity, our history, and our worth,” former foster youth Sofie Fashana said on March 26 at a state capitol rally. “Relegating our possessions to trash bags leaves us feeling degraded and dehumanized and sends a clear message: ‘You are worth the same as trash.’ Children deserve better.”
Advocates held the rally after the release of the Assembly and Senate one-house budgets. Neither house included the luggage for foster youth bill in its budget proposals.
New York state’s foster care system is made up of about 13,000 children, with 23,000 transitions experienced per year. A foster child experiences roughly three different placements on average while in the system.
Current and former foster youth spoke at the State Capitol about using trash bags for their belongings when moving between placements.
“Almost 10 years ago, I aged out of the New York City foster care system after moving through nine different homes. Every single time I was relocated, I transported my belongings in a trash bag. Unfortunately, one of those times, I lost everything I owned. Every experience, every memory—gone in an instant. New York State must do better for our young people,” stated Dominique Tatom, a former foster care youth. “Spending $15 on a duffle bag is a drop in the bucket.”
The pilot program, “My Bag,” is offered by the state that distributes duffel bags to foster youth. Although the program distributed 2,700 bags in 2024, proponents for the luggage bill argue it is not enough.
Other states have passed bills providing luggage for foster youth. In 2023, Texas required its Department of Family and Protective Services to provide luggage for foster children changing homes, with the provided luggage becoming the foster youth’s property — not to be reclaimed by the department or taken by the child’s foster parent. Oregon’s state legislature passed an adjacent bill the same year.
In 2024, a similar bill passed in Maryland, requiring the state’s Department of Human Services to provide foster youth with new luggage when entering foster care or moving to a new placement.
New York’s fiscal budget is due April 1, with no official confirmation of its passage. With this policy issue excluded from the one-house budgets, the future of proper luggage for foster youth will be determined on the Senate and Assembly floors.
Lilly Sabella is a fourth-year student from Queens, New York. She moved upstate to New Paltz to pursue her undergraduate English degree with a minor in political science. While at SUNY New Paltz, she has served as News Editor and Features Editor for The Oracle, as Nonfiction Editor for Columbia University’s literary magazine Exchange and has been published in Rewire News Group.
