President Trump signs executive order to help support foster youth

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order implementing a "Fostering the Future" program, spearheaded by First Lady Melania Trump.

Key Takeaways:

• Over 300,000 children spent time in foster care last year.

• During President Trump's first presidential term, the First Lady launched the "Be Best" initiative. "Fostering the Future" is an offshoot of that campaign, and aims to better support foster youth.

The Details:

In a ceremony today alongside First Lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump signed the "Fostering the Future" executive order, which looks to provide better career and educational support for foster youth.

It includes a “Fostering the Future” online platform, where children in foster care can have access to resources and create personalized plans in regards to education, housing, career development, and more.

It also increases access to educational vouchers, grants, and tax credits to foster youth, and calls on the foster care system to be modernized and better regulated. As the Be Best website notes:

Many children in the foster care community lack the support and stability to finish their education and gain meaningful employment. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, only 50 percent of foster children finish high school, and only three percent of former foster children obtain a college degree.

Twenty percent of the children in foster care will become homeless after aging out of the system, and only half will have gainful employment by the age of 24.

The program will have $25 million in funding allocated for it in the 2026 budget.

Why It Matters:

Children are placed in foster care when their parents or guardians are deemed unsafe. While it is meant to be temporary with reunification as the goal, some parents never regain parental rights. If not adopted, these youth often age out of the system with little support.

It is estimated that over 20,000 children age out of the foster care system each year upon turning 18. As noted, a significant number of these children are immediately homeless, and that is just one of the many obstacles these youth often face.

Former foster youth often struggle to get an education and find meaningful employment, and women who have aged out of foster care are statistically more likely to become pregnant by the time they are 21.

Former foster youth sometimes struggle with mental health issues like PTSD, stemming from a childhood of neglect or abuse.

The Bottom Line:

Foster children are an at-risk population that need and deserve help and support.

"We’re going to ensure that they will never, ever be forgotten," Trump said during the signing ceremony. "These children will never be forgotten and they’re going to grow up to be unbelievable, strong, smart, wealthy, productive citizens.”