President Trump on Thursday unlocked $25 million in federal funding to provide housing and support for youth transitioning out of foster care.
First lady Melania Trump joined Mr. Trump in the White House’s East Room, where they signed an executive order making the funds available to help teenagers who’ve aged out of the foster system.
“This will help provide jobs, education and personal development opportunities to fantastic young people who truly need and deserve them, and they’re going to get them,” Mr. Trump said.
The order is part of the first lady’s Fostering the Future program, which is part of her Be Best initiative. Fostering the Future aims to secure educational opportunities and scholarships for those in the foster care system. It provides foster care children with a computer science-based education.
Be Best is a campaign launched by Mrs. Trump in May 2018, focused on children’s well-being.
Mrs. Trump said the Fostering the Future campaign will be “empathetic and strategic” as well as “impactful.”
“I predict this small spark today will ignite a profound and lasting nationwide movement,” she said. “Our united resolve will foster a thriving future filled with compassion and innovation.”
The $25 million investment was secured by the first lady in the fiscal 2026 budget request to provide housing and support for foster children.
Only 50% of foster children finish high school, and only 3% of former foster children obtain a college degree, according to data from the National Foster Youth Institute. In addition, 20% of children in foster care will become homeless after aging out of the system, and only half will have gainful employment by age 24.
There were 328,947 children in the foster care system last year, according to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. The number of youth in foster care has remained relatively stable over the past decade, with 396,000 children in foster care in 2013. However, the number rose toward the end of the previous decade, peaking at 437,000 in 2017 and 2018.
Children ages 6-16 account for roughly 50% of the foster care population, while about 7% of the youth are 18-24.
In 2024, 17% of the children spent as much as three years in foster care.
The primary reasons children enter foster care are neglect (61%), parental drug abuse (34%) and physical abuse (12%). Black and American Indian children make up the largest percentage of children in foster care. Black children account for 22% of those in foster care, though they make up only 14% of the total child population.
Mrs. Trump has made children’s causes a major component of her platform since returning to office.
She called out Russian President Vladimir Putin over the separation of kids from their parents in Ukraine, having her “peace letter” hand-delivered to him during his Alaska visit with Mr. Trump in August.
In the letter, Mrs. Trump pleaded with Mr. Putin to protect children, writing that doing so “will do more than serve Russia alone” and “will serve humanity itself.”
