FOSTERING THE FUTURE FOR AMERICAN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
This Presidential Action establishes the 'Fostering the Future' initiative, led by the Administration, designed to fundamentally modernize the nation's child welfare system.
The order directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to improve data collection, implement modern technology, and create tools like an annual performance scorecard to enhance child well-being, reduce time in foster care, and accelerate permanent placements.
Furthermore, the order mandates the creation of new educational and employment pathways for youth aging out of the system and addresses policies that may restrict faith-based organizations from participating in federally-funded child welfare programs.
Arguments For
Strengthens the child welfare system by mandating data modernization, increased transparency, and the strategic use of technology like AI for better matching and resource allocation, potentially leading to improved child safety outcomes.
Focuses on successfully transitioning youth out of foster care by creating specific educational and employment opportunities through the 'Fostering the Future' initiative, including targeted financial literacy and career-focused grants.
Increases support for faith-based organizations, allowing them to fully participate in federally-funded child-welfare programs, thereby expanding the network of potential caregivers and support systems utilizing sincerely-held beliefs.
Aims to reduce the administrative burden on caseworkers and improve system efficiency by eliminating duplicative reporting requirements and focusing funding on maximally effective purposes and recipients.
Arguments Against
Mandates changes to data collection and technology infrastructure that may impose significant, unfunded administrative and technical burdens on State and local child welfare agencies.
Directives regarding religious beliefs in foster care programs could lead to legal challenges concerning non-discrimination policies or the exclusion of qualified, non-religious providers.
The restructuring of performance metrics and the reallocation of returned Federal funds might prioritize specific administrative or technological goals over immediate, localized needs of children in care.
Reliance on new technologies, like predictive analytics, introduces risks concerning algorithmic bias and the accuracy of decisions affecting child placement and family support services.
Presidential Actions
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. My Administration is dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes. When crises prevent such an arrangement, our Nation’s foster care system must be ready to serve children in need. Today’s foster care system must be improved in a number of important ways.
Children often stay in foster care for years, and those who transition out due to age frequently face uncertain futures without the support systems essential to educational, career, and relational success. Many caseworkers are overburdened. Information systems are often outdated. Some jurisdictions and organizations maintain policies that discourage or prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.
Our Nation’s children and youth — and the families who care for them — deserve better. To that end, my Administration, with special leadership from the First Lady, will harness Federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to provide young Americans in or transitioning out of the foster care system with the tools they need to become successful adults.
Sec. 2. Modernizing the Child Welfare System. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, within 180 days of the date of this order, take appropriate action to:
(i) update applicable regulations, policies, and practices to improve the collection, publication, utility, and transparency of State-level child-welfare data, including by improving collection of data and information indicative of child well-being and safety, eliminating duplicative or unnecessary high-cost and low-value reporting requirements, and expanding and expediting child-welfare data publication;
(ii) promote modernization of State child-welfare information systems and use of the most effective foster care management and outcome-tracking platforms, including by incorporating such modernization efforts as part of information exchanged with or technical assistance provided to States;
(iii) expand States’ use of technological solutions, including predictive analytics and tools powered by artificial intelligence, to increase caregiver recruitment and retention rates, improve caregiver and child matching, and deploy Federal child-welfare funding to maximally effective purposes and recipients; and
(iv) publish annually a scorecard that measures and is used to evaluate State-level achievement of key outcomes and metrics that reduce unnecessary entries into foster care, decrease the time between reports of child maltreatment and investigations, reduce child injuries and fatalities caused by caregiver neglect and abuse, increase caregiver recruitment and retention, improve caregiver and child matching, reduce placement disruptions, decrease the average time that children spend in foster care, accelerate permanent placement for children, and increase partnerships and collaboration with appropriate non-governmental entities, including faith-based organizations.
Sec. 3. Fostering the Future. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Office of the First Lady and heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, within 180 days of the date of this order:
(a) establish a “Fostering the Future” initiative to develop partnerships with agencies and leading private sector organizations, academic institutions, and non-profit entities to create new educational and employment opportunities for individuals who are in or are transitioning out of the foster care system;
(b) develop a plan to launch, in conjunction with the National Design Studio, a “Fostering the Future” online platform to help individuals who have been in foster care by assessing their current needs, providing guidance regarding accessing Federal, State, and local programs and services for which they are eligible, including housing, education, employment, healthcare, and mentoring services offering a searchable database of those and other available resources, and generating customized plans that support their self-sufficiency and success;
(c) develop a strategy to reallocate funds returned by States from Federal programs designed to assist individuals transitioning out of foster care so that such returned funds are used to promote educational success, occupational advancement, and financial literacy and self-sufficiency for individuals transitioning out of foster care
(d) increase flexibility in Education and Training Vouchers to expand access for individuals transitioning out of foster care to short-term, career-focused, and credential-awarding programs; and
(e) facilitate, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Education, State use of educational scholarships created through tax-credited donations to scholarship-granting organizations for children in foster care.
Sec. 4. Maximizing Partnerships with Americans of Faith. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Director of the White House Faith Office and the Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, shall:
(a) take appropriate action to address State and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions; and
(b) take appropriate action to increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families whose children have been placed in foster care or are at risk of being placed in foster care.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Health and Human Services.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 13, 2025.
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The preamble establishes that the President is issuing an order based on constitutional authority to improve the foster care system, which is needed when parents cannot provide safe, loving homes.
The purpose section states the Administration's commitment to empowering parents and notes deficiencies in the current system, such as long stays in care, poor outcomes for youth transitioning out, overburdened caseworkers, outdated information systems, and policies potentially excluding families based on religious beliefs.
The Administration, with leadership from the First Lady, commits to using federal support, technology, and partnerships to equip foster youth with tools for adult success.
Section 2 requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to modernize the child welfare system within 180 days.
This modernization includes updating regulations for better, more transparent state-level child welfare data, while also eliminating unnecessary reporting burdens.
HHS must promote updating state information systems and using effective management platforms.
The order specifically promotes using advanced technology, such as predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to improve caregiver recruitment, matching, and fund deployment efficiency.
Additionally, Section 2 mandates the annual publication of a scorecard evaluating states on key metrics.
These metrics cover reducing entries into foster care, decreasing investigation times for maltreatment reports, lowering child injuries/fatalities due to abuse or neglect, improving caregiver retention, reducing placement disruptions, decreasing average time in care, and accelerating permanent placements.
The scorecard must also measure collaboration with non-governmental entities, including faith-based groups.
Section 3 establishes the 'Fostering the Future' initiative, to be developed by HHS in coordination with the Office of the First Lady and other agencies, also within 180 days.
This initiative will build partnerships with private sector, academic, and non-profit groups to create educational and employment opportunities for current and transitioning foster youth.
A related online platform will be launched to assess needs, guide eligibility for services (housing, education, healthcare, mentoring), and generate customized success plans.
Furthermore, Section 3 requires a strategy to reallocate returned federal funds from foster care transition programs back into promoting youth educational success, occupational advancement, and financial literacy.
It also directs increased flexibility in using Education and Training Vouchers for short-term, career-focused programs and facilitates state use of educational scholarships funded by tax-credited donations.
Section 4 directs the Secretary of HHS, coordinating with the White House Faith Office and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, to take action regarding policies that prohibit qualified individuals or organizations from participating in federally-funded child welfare programs because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.
This section also mandates increasing partnerships between government agencies and faith-based organizations to serve vulnerable families.
Section 5 outlines General Provisions, clarifying that the order does not impair the legal authority of executive departments or affect the budgetary functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
It mandates that implementation must align with applicable law and available funding.
Crucially, it states the order creates no new legal or equitable rights for any private party against the United States.
Finally, it assigns the cost of publishing the order to the Department of Health and Human Services.
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This concluding content attributes the preceding text as a Presidential Action post titled 'Fostering the Future for American Children and Families,' noting its origin on The White House website.