New Legislation in New York Supports Foster Children’s Right to ‘Dignified Transportation’

​In a recent article titled “New Legislation in New York Supports Foster Children’s Right to ‘Dignified Transportation’”, written by Susanti Sarkar from The Imprint highlights proposed state and city bills aimed at ending the practice of providing foster youth with trash bags for their belongings. The state bill, sponsored by Senator Jabari Brisport, would require the Office of Children and Family Services to distribute proper luggage through county social service agencies and submit annual progress reports. This initiative seeks to provide foster youth with dignified means to transport their possessions, recognizing that these items symbolize their identity and worth. ​The article quotes Policy Entrepreneur Sofie Fashana:

When Joseph decided to push for the city legislation, she sought advice from Sofie Fashana, a former foster youth who was instrumental in the success of a similar bill in her home state of Oregon. In Oregon, Fashana said, most of the opposition to ending the use of garbage bags came from foster care agencies.

“I hear all the time from foster groups how trash bags are ‘efficient’ and that ‘safety matters,’” said Fashana, who, along with other current and former foster youth, helped draft the language for both proposed bills in New York. “But you’re not prioritizing safety when you’re neglecting emotional safety.”

Fashana now lives in New York City and works as a policy advocate focusing on foster youth and the unhoused at the Next100 think tank. A page on the organization’s website features the experiences of foster youth who moved in garbage bags, including one 21-year-old who recounted moving from group home to group home: “My belongings were packed in big black garbage bags, even to the point where my things got mixed up with trash and my belongings got thrown out and I was transported with trash, not knowing.’’

Fashana also remembers receiving disposable trash bags while in foster care, and the message it conveyed to her: “You’re worth trash.’’
“It’s $15 to give somebody a sense of confidence and a sense of being worth something, and that’s worth fighting for,” she said about the state bill’s estimate of the cost of each suitcase.