NEWS & RESOURCES

Morelli Group

Morelli Group - storing pallets for a charity that supports children and young people in the care system

PA Consulting Packing Day

PA Consulting show their support to children and young people in care for 2nd year

Celebrity Ambassador

Joe Swash joins Comfort Cases UK as a celebrity ambassador supporting  our work as a foster care ambassador.

Carter Brown Partnership

Carter Brown announces Comfort Cases UK as their charity partner for 2024/25

Fatima's UK Campign

Fatima's UK Campaign pledges to support Comfort Cases UK as part of her campaign to make change for vulnerable children and young people in the UK, . 

Award Finalists

Highly commended finalist in The National Children & Young  People Award 2023

David Lammy LBC

Sarah Laster, Comfort Cases UK CEO, talks to David Lammy on LBC Radio (24.09.2023)

Female CEO of the Year

Whilst we strive to achieve all that we can as a charity, partnerships help bring awareness to our cause in a way that we could never do alone. 

Ben Kentish LBC

Sarah Laster, Comfort Cases UK CEO, talks to Ben Kentish on LBC Radio (26.02.2023)

Insight Magazine

In September 2023, Comfort Cases UK featured in the Biz4Biz Insight Magazine (p.40).

Lived Experience

Placement Instability Through the Lens of Lived Experience: Why We Must Act Now

Houses of Parliament

In October 2021, Comfort Cases UK visited the Houses of Parliament (with Mitzvah Day) to work with MP's to make a real difference to children entering the foster care system. 

WD6 News Mitzvah Day

Comfort Cases UK and Cllr Dan Ozarow took the lead in the award-nominated Year-Round Mitzvah Moments, alongside Hertsmere Mencap and Langdon UK  (p18-19)

Digital Inclusion

Comfort Cases UK champions  after Cloud Journals App, as they redefine digital life stories for children's services.

Community Lottery

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(p.30)

“I love this initiative and as a former foster carer, this warms my heart so much as I was often greeting children with nothing or with only the dreaded bin bags.”

Head of Social Work, Keele University

RESOURCES READING LIST...

ROB SCHEER (Founder of Comfort Cases) - "A FOREVER FAMILY: Fostering Change One Child at a Time"

An inspirational memoir by the founder of Comfort Cases about his turbulent childhood in the foster care system and the countless obstacles and discrimination he endured in adopting his four children. 

Poignant, gripping and inspiring, Rob's story provides a glimpse into what it's like to grow up in the foster care system, and sheds necessary light on the children who are often treated without dignity. Both a timely call to action and a courageous and candid account of life in the foster care system, A Forever Family ultimately leaves you with one message: one person can make a difference.

You can also support Comfort Cases with Rob's children book "Lulu & Malek Sail Off to Sea".

SOCIAL WORK TUTOR - "The Truth About Social Work"

You’ve read that social work is one of the hardest jobs you can do. You’ve heard that social workers help make the world a better place. You’ve seen news stories where social workers are blamed for children dying or adults being put at risk. But what is it really like to be a social worker, work with one or be supported by one in the modern world?What is the truth about social work? Not as told by journalists, observers or academics, but by the people on the frontline of this profession themselves? In The Truth about Social Work, Social Work Tutor sets out to answer these questions by spending time with social workers and hearing their stories. Through their accounts, he reveals what it’s really like to work in this often misunderstood and misrepresented profession.

BRUCE D. PERRY with MAIA SZALAVITZ - "The Boy who was Raised as a Dog"

And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook -- What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing"

How does trauma affect a child's mind—and how can that mind recover?

SIOBHAN MCLEAN - "Insiders Outsiders: Hidden Narratives of Care Experienced Social Workers"

This book will challenge you and inspire you in equal measure. It brings together a rich and diverse collection of reflections, poems and essays from social workers with care experience.

These social workers invite you to immerse yourself in their lived experience and reflect upon the many themes that emerge.

DIANA HYLTON - " Both Sides of the Track"

Diana Hylton recounts her life experiences in Both Sides of the Track, where she candidly shares details about her life during childhood and the traumas that haunted her while she was growing up, continuing into adulthood. This is a compelling and inspiring account of how Diana emerged from significant trauma, hopeful and determined, despite all the complexities that she encountered at every turn. She also details the principles that kept her motivated regardless of all the adversities and of which gave her the strength and courage to achieve justice, admirable progress and to ultimately thrive despite the odds being stacked against her from the start.

DAVID JACKSON - "Oi! You F*cker"

This is a harrowing personal voyage into the 1960-80s childcare system as experienced first-hand by the author and many like him. It was a brutally horrific system, that made countless victims of the very children it was designed to protect. These brutally horrific regimes, founded upon extraordinary levels of inhumanity, cruelty, violence, fear, and intimidation, brought children to their knees, brutalised, cowed and often in fear for their very existence.It was a stark, depressive, and oppressively dysfunctional system, that imposed perpetual physical suffering and mental hardship, upon its most vulnerable charges. It was a pernicious cycle of ritualised systematic abuse, inflicted on some of the most vulnerable children society could offer up.

LEMN SISSAY - "My Name is Why"

This is Lemn's story: a story of neglect and determination, misfortune and hope, cruelty and triumph.

Sissay reflects on his childhood, self-expression and Britishness, and in doing so explores the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home. Written with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation's best-loved poets, this moving, frank and timely memoir is the result of a life spent asking questions, and a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity.

LISA CHERRY - "The Brightness of Stars - Stories from Care Experienced Adults to Inspire Change"

In this poignant book, Lisa Cherry brings together a collection of candid and personal reflections on the care system in the UK, offering alternative ways of thinking about the care experience, supporting better ways of working, and providing justification for a trauma-informed lens to be applied to all forms of work with those in care.

LILLYBELLE KEATING - "In My Own Words"

Step into the mind of 11-year-old Lillybelle as she reflects back on her adoption journey.

Written with the hope that her story will bring comfort to children on their own journey and understanding to all around them.

We also love Lillybelle's "In your own words"

STANLEY J. BROWNE - "Little Big Man"

Stanley James Brown is an actor from Hackney, East London. Born to a Jamaican mother, he began rehearsing the role of survivor from an early age. From birth he knew nothing but a home filled with love and the vibrancy of a Caribbean culture, but this changes when his mother is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Set against a backdrop of 1970s. poverty, racism and hardship, Little Big Man is a powerful story of generational trauma and one man's determination to heal the wounds of the past. Most of all, it is a book about the universal desire for love, belonging and the search to find an authentic voice through the redemptive power of creativity and recovery.

 

DR JULIE SMITH - "Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before"

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, online sensation Dr Julie Smith shares all the skills you need to get through life's ups and downs.

Filled with secrets from a therapist's toolkit, this is a must-have handbook for optimising your mental health. Dr Julie's simple but expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient no matter what life throws your way.

Do you wonder about the struggles these children go through emotionally, physically, and psychologically, and how many of them survive and make progress despite a most bleak outlook?

Diana Hylton – Trustee for CCUK and author of Both Sides of the Track

#NOMOREBINBAGS | #TREASURESNOTTRASH | #DIGNITYHOPELOVE

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