DAPHNE, Ala. — When a foster child comes into the system, or moves to a new foster family, Patrice Kenney, a long-term employee who deals with foster children and adoptions, said the children are often given a garbage bag or a used box to place all of their belongings in.

“They are given trash bags. Usually they don’t have luggage or anything. They just have to put all their belongings in trash bags,” Kenney said.

Kenney believed that act was having a negative effect on the children who were placed in the system.

“A lot of the kids, as they get older, they have made comments that they think they are nothing but trash. People ask them why they think that; you are in a home, and you are loved. They think they are no better than trash because all they were given to put their stuff in was a trash bag and you put garbage in trash bags,” Kenney said.

After spending time working with foster children, Kenney said she saw a need and had to do something about it.

“I worked for Agape of Central Alabama and we do foster care, adoptions and maternity. I had done foster care for probably 15 years … right now I am doing more of adoption and maternity care. I guess just getting the distance from the foster-care aspect, I started thinking that we need to do something for children when they come into care,” Kenney said.

Her goal is to provide each foster child with a suitcase or some type of luggage to put their belongings in to make them feel better about themselves and their situation.

“Giving them a suitcase will give them something of their own,” Kenney said. “It gives them a sense of belonging. It gives them a sense of something that they can call their own. Most of us, we take for granted the things that we have. A child, usually, they don’t have anything of their own. It is just something they can personally say that it is theirs.”

Since Kenney has been collecting suitcases, she has provided the Department of Human Resources with a larger variety of luggage, which allows the children to pick their own.

“DHR, instead of picking something out for the children, they have been taking children to the storage area and letting them pick out what they want. They let them look at all the bags and pick one out for themselves,” Kenney said. “They are getting to pick instead of someone else picking from them. When a child is removed from the home, they have no choice. They have to leave everything they know. This is giving them the opportunity to have a choice.”

The luggage, Kenney said, gives kids a sense of security as well.

“It is something they can put on their back and it is kind of like a blanket. They are going to a new home and that is something they have and can take with them all the time,” Kenney said.

Kenney started her efforts to collect luggage in November of last year. Since then, she said she has seen an outpouring of support from the community and members of the churches she has reached out to.

“What I did was, because I cover Mobile and Baldwin County for so long, I have foster parents at different churches. If they lived in Mobile or Baldwin County, I would call them and ask them to talk to the people at their church and see if we could start collecting luggage,” Kenney said.

Involving the foster parents gave a personal touch to the collection efforts because they had seen firsthand how being in the foster care system impacted the children.

“Even though I was the social worker, foster parents can give their story and say children would come with hardly any clothes or what they had was in a trash bag or for groups of siblings all their things would be combined into a black trash bag,” Kenney said.

The Eastern Shore Church of Christ in Daphne and the Spanish Fort Church of Christ are collection points for Kenney’s efforts, along with churches in Mobile and other parts of Baldwin County.

“What I have been doing is trying to get people I know and know me and go that route. I am open to anybody helping out; I was just trying to use my contacts to get something started,” Kenney said.

Kenney is pleased with the response she has gotten so far through the churches.

“It has gone really well. From Spanish Fort and Eastern Shore and two congregations in Mobile, I have collected 50 suitcases. I had a member of the Spanish Fort Church of Christ … he donated 60 duffel bags. Thirty pink and 30 black, so the girls could have pink. I have probably gotten close to 100 duffel bags; 20 large, army-type bags; and 30 or 40 backpacks. I was very well pleased with the outpouring,” she said.

Still, she said, the need is tremendous.

“You are probably looking at 20 to 30 kids a month that are entering the foster-care system,” Kenney said.

Kenney will take any type of luggage that the children could use, or monetary donations that she will use to bargain-shop to get the most use out of the funds.

The Eastern Shore Business Alliance recently gave Kenney $250.

“I was floored. I make it go a long way. I got a four-piece luggage set and a three-piece luggage set for $100 and I still have $100 left,” Kenney said. “I got a lot of rolling suitcases at Christmastime for $10. I took as many as I could get. I look around and go to all places. Luggage can be expensive but there are ways to get it cheaper.”

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