Hunter Beaton remembers the day so well. It was ‘Day One’ in the adoption of his little brother.
“ Thirteen years ago, I observed a very dirty 2-yearold boy walking up our porch steps, carrying a black trash bag about as big as he was,” Beaton said. “This boy became one of my brothers.”
The young boy’s biological parents were both addicted to drugs and Child Protective Services was fearful for his safety.
As the police and a CPS caseworker brought him into the Beaton home -- “his face, dirty, his hair was long and unkempt” -- Hunter said Hudson (the little brother) was “carrying a trash bag about as big as he was.”
He clung to the trash bag and odd things, like bottle caps, for days, Hunter said. “The use of a trash bag speaks volumes to children of their worth, and it definitely made an impact on me,” he said.
Hunter Beaton, center, accepts a proclamation from Mayor Frank Ritchie, left during the city’s July 25 meeting. State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-Dist. 25) spoke to Beaton’s Day 1 Bags nonprofit campaign. Courtesy Photos
Day 1 Bags takes its fundraising and awareness campaign on the road. Photo courtesy Day 1 Bags.
“I felt for Hudson, his embarrassment, pain, loss, indignity, and I still feel it today,” he said. “It should make every one of us ... feel very uncomfortable and at least consider, why are trash bags the ‘official’ luggage for foster children?”
In 2015, when Beaton was considering Eagle Scout projects, with the trash bags still fresh in his mind, he remembered Hudson’s “Day One” with their family, straggling up the driveway with a police escort, wondering what he had done wrong – why everything he ever knew, or owned, was in a trash bag.
“Day 1 Bags: Dignity Not Trash” was thus born as an Eagle Scout project.
Beaton received 100 backpacks and bags, they were filled with personal supplies and effects. Day 1 Bags was a success; more than 100 bags, were filled and presented to youth coming out of CPS care as foster children But Beaton’s mother, Paula Beaton, said it didn’t sit well with Hunter that all his work and the payoff was achieved in two months, and all the bags would be gone in another three months.
“’I want to sustain this,’ he told us,” Paula Beaton said. “It just didn’t sit well with him.”
In 2022, more than 21,000 youth were in the Texas foster care system, with 9,623 removals and 2,219 placements secured.
With Beaton’s determination, guidance and ability to hook up with supporters of like-minded organizations, “Day 1 Bags: Dignity Not Trash” finally made it to the steps of the state Capitol.
Along the way, hundreds of individuals and companies made generous donations of money, time and supplies, but Beaton knew that more had to be done.
He connected with Hallie Lively, a former foster care youth herself, from “Bags of Love,” who had invested seven years of her life to find an advocate in State Rep. John Bucy III from Cedar Park.
“Fortunately, he said ‘yes’ to Hallie’s call to spearhead and champion a bill through all phases and on the governor’s desk,” Beaton said.
House bill 3765 received wide bipartisan support, co-sponsored by six of Bucy’s fellow Democrats and five House Republicans. On May 22 the State House overwhelmingly approved the bill; the next day, the State Senate did the same. The bill on May 24 reached Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, where it was signed into law June 10 -- “Relating to the establishment of a supply of luggage by the Department of Family and Protective Services for the transport of the personal belongings of a foster child.”
“This law and the budget represent a significant step in the right direction,” Beaton wrote in a speech. “My personal dream is every child in foster care would have proper luggage on DAY 1. Well, Day 1 has turned into 6,235 days for me alone, with multiple journeys.
“So, what happens now? We keep pushing until 100% of the youth in care have the proper bags,” his speech states. “We fill the identified gap through donations. A proper bag will boost confidence, restore hope, dignity and everyone deserves those basic human rights.”
At the July 25 Boerne City Council meeting, Beaton was honored with a proclamation from the city for his work, handed to him by Mayor Frank Ritchie and State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-Dist. 25).
“It’s a great day for Boerne and a great day for foster kids all around the state,” Ritchie said. “We recognize the week of Sept. 1 as ‘Day 1 Bags’ week and encourage all people in our community to recognize and honor Day 1 Bags.”
Campbell told the council she first met Beaton in 2017 when he began contacting state senators and representatives about Day 1 Bags.
At that time, she said, a proclamation honoring Beaton for his humanitarian effort was signed by all 31 state senators “recognizing the initiative you had put forward from a desire in your heart.”
She noted Beaton’s siblings who came through the foster care system.
“Their belongings had been put in a garbage bag, and that reflects on the self-worth of the child,” Campbell said.
She explained the bill has yet to be funded. But the bill establishes an avenue to collect donations of money, duffel bags and backpacks for future distribution to foster youth when they leave the system.
“The foundation that you’ve grown from this, to raise money to buy the luggage, I hope it keeps growing,” she said. “What a great thing to come out of your scout project. But it just shows what can be done when you have a desire of the heart.”
Beaton said he hopes this sets a precedent for other states to observe what Texas has done for its foster care youth -- to become a model for all 50 states in the treatment of some of their most vulnerable citizens, in foster care.
“It really is a win for the kids,” Paula Beaton said. “It isn’t about the advocacy of Hunter, it’s about the win for the kids.”
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