Comfort Cases Offer Way to Help Children Facing Challenges
Ask civilians to name the tools of the trade for police officers and they’ll likely say handcuffs or a service weapon. They’re less likely to say pajamas, teddy bears or toothpaste.
But those are just the sorts of new tools that Rockville police have to help them comfort children facing tough times, thanks to a new partnership between the police department and a local nonprofit.
Comfort Cases, a Gaithersburg-based nonprofit that has been featured on “Ellen” and the “Today” show, supports foster children in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The nonprofit relies on donations to provide children with a small duffel bag or backpack filled with essentials and comfort items, to help ease the transition to a new home. For children younger than 10, such items may include pajamas, a stuffed animal and a coloring book. For children 10 and older, it could include sleepwear, journals, books and toiletries.
Rockville’s is the first municipal police department in Maryland to partner with Comfort Cases.
Through the partnership, city police could expand the use of the cases to situations in which officers help Child Protective Services workers remove children from a parent or guardian. City officers also plan to give the cases to children whose family has been displaced by fire, or in response to domestic violence calls, when it is important to reassure children and make them feel safe and secure.
“This partnership will give our officers a great tool to use when they encounter children in our community at a particularly vulnerable time,” said Maj. Bob Rappoport, the city’s acting police chief. “Comfort Cases allow officers to bring essential items and a bit of security to a child facing a time of upheaval.”
Learn more at www.comfortcases.org and www.rockvillemd.gov/police.