How About Some Dignity? Rob Scheer on Foster Care and FASD
Aug 03, 2026
Some things carry more than belongings.
When Rob Scheer entered foster care at twelve, he carried his things in a trash bag. Years later, children came to his own home carrying trash bags too. Rob saw immediately that this was not only about what was practical. It was about the message a young person receives at one of the most difficult moments of their life.
His question was simple: How about some dignity?
The question behind Comfort Cases
Rob is a former foster youth, U.S. Navy veteran, adoptive dad, author, speaker, and the founder of Comfort Cases.
Comfort Cases provides backpacks and duffel bags filled with new, age appropriate essentials for children and young people entering foster care. The bags include practical items such as pajamas, hygiene products, a blanket, a book, and a stuffed animal. But the point is bigger than the items themselves. It is the message: you matter, somebody thought about what you might need, and you deserve care.
In this episode of The FASD Success Show, Rob shares the story behind that work, from growing up in foster care and experiencing homelessness to building a family with his husband Reece.
Parenting when love does not make it easy
Rob was also honest about the parts of parenting that can be hard to say out loud.
Understanding that behaviour is communication does not mean the behaviour does not hurt. It does not mean you never take it personally. It means continuing to separate the person from what is happening in the moment and returning to the relationship when you can.
That will feel familiar to many FASD caregivers. You can understand the brain based reasons behind behaviour and still be exhausted, frustrated, or hurt by what happens in your home. Both things can be true.
A prediction is not a person
Rob and Reece received a long list of predictions about their son Mackay. His story is not a formula or a promise about anybody else’s future. It is a reminder to be careful about taking someone’s capacity today and deciding we already know the ceiling for the rest of their life.
A diagnosis matters. Supports matter. Safety and accountability matter. But a diagnosis is not the whole person.
That is the thread running through Rob’s story. He keeps seeing the person where systems can see only a placement, a file, a diagnosis, or a problem.
Learn more about Rob and Comfort Cases
Host a Comfort Cases packing party
Volunteer or host a donation drive
Contact Comfort Cases about partnerships or speaking
Rob’s memoir, A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time
Listen to Rob’s Fostering Change podcast
Watch Rob and Reece in Somewhat Familiar, Season 1, Episode 5: Foster Families
Watch Rob and Reece in Dads, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard
You do not have to do this alone
If you are caring for someone with FASD and you are looking for people who understand the layers other people can miss, come join us in the free FASD Forever Facebook group.
