Birthday backpacks for kids in foster care

Every kid deserves a birthday.

For many children in foster care, birthdays slip by unnoticed between moves, new schools and new homes. Presents with a Purpose funds birthday backpacks so a child in care gets a real celebration, with gifts chosen just for them.

Fund a birthday backpack See why it matters

A teen in a gold party hat holding a wrapped gift

Candles being lit on a Happy 17th Birthday cake

A teen in a hooded coat wearing a backpack

The reality

How kids in foster care spend their birthdays

Children usually enter care through no fault of their own. Most will spend at least one birthday there, and many of those days pass without a cake, a card or a single gift.

2–3birthdays the average child spends in foster care, many uncelebratedFoster Love

$0is often what the system budgets for a foster child’s birthday party or giftsFoster Friends of NC, on their local DSS

1 in 5Tennessee foster kids moved homes 3+ times within a single year (21.3%)America’s Health Rankings, 2021 data

~8,000children are in foster care in Tennessee at any given timeYouth Villages

5,026Tennessee children entered foster care between April 2023 and March 2024TN Commission on Children & Youth

329,000children were in U.S. foster care on Sept. 30, 2024U.S. Children’s Bureau (AFCARS)

What one birthday in care can look like

The week before

A placement change. New house, new school, new rules. With frequent moves, a birthday can get lost in the shuffle.

The morning of

The new caregivers may not know the date, or may not have the money for gifts. Some kids don’t even know their own birthday.

The afternoon

Birthdays can be a painful reminder of the family a child is no longer with, even when someone does try to celebrate.

With a birthday backpack

The day arrives with gifts picked for them, everything needed to celebrate, and proof that someone remembered.

MY WHY

Sam Hickey, founder of Presents with a Purpose

“I knew I needed to make that happen again.”

During a Tennessee ice storm, my mom and I went to a local shelter to help people without power. Once we arrived, we realized it was way worse than we thought. We were walking around talking to people, and we came across this little girl whose birthday was the next day. We knew her family was in no place to give her the birthday she deserved. From that moment, I knew that was our mission.

My mom and I went to Walmart and bought her toys, clothes, decorations and cupcakes. We dropped the gifts off at the shelter that same day. The next day, we were sent a picture of that little girl with the biggest smile on her face.

I knew I needed to make that happen again.

Sam Hickey
Founder, Presents with a Purpose

The birthday backpack

What your gift can do

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For guys

For girls

Why a backpack matters. Kids in care often move their belongings in trash bags. Texas became the first state to pass a law requiring proper luggage in 2023, followed by Oregon, Maryland, New York and Washington, D.C. A birthday backpack is something a child gets to keep and carry with them.

Currently supporting

Where your backpacks go

Now serving

Tennessee Children’s Home

Founded in 1909 in Maury County as the Tennessee Orphans Home, it now runs its largest campus in Spring Hill. It provides group home residential treatment, child and family counseling, and independent living programs for youth.

Est. 1909Spring Hill, TNFour campuses