Last month, the Trump administration released an Executive Order titled Fostering the Future for American Children and Families at a press conference with the President and First Lady, signaling that current foster youth and young people aging out of care are an important issue for the administration, and the First Lady in particular. 

When announcing the order, the administration discussed and acknowledged the long-standing challenges within the foster care system, particularly for youth who transition out due to age. Too often, young people leave care without stable housing, clear education or employment pathways, or consistent adult support.

In response to these challenges, the Executive Order will:

  • Launch a new Fostering the Future initiative focused on partnerships across federal agencies, the private sector, higher education, and nonprofit organizations to support youth transitioning out of foster care.
  • Create a national online platform to help current and former foster youth build individualized transition plans and connect with education, housing, employment, healthcare, and mentoring supports.
  • Expand flexibility in Education and Training Vouchers and encourage the use of tax-credited scholarship programs.
  • Reallocate unused federal funds toward education, workforce readiness, financial literacy, and self-sufficiency supports for youth aging out of care.
  • Require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to modernize state child welfare data systems, increase transparency, and publish annual state scorecards on key child welfare outcomes.
  • Encourage the use of technology, including predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, to support caregiver recruitment and retention as well as caregiver and child matching.
  • Promote expanded partnerships with community-based organizations, including faith-based providers, in delivering foster care and family support services.

Broader Federal Focus on Foster Youth and Families

At the federal level, implementation is already underway. Following the Executive Order, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced A Home for Every Child, a national initiative focused on addressing the foster home shortage by increasing caregiver recruitment, prioritizing kinship care, improving retention of existing foster families, and reducing unnecessary entries into foster care.

Beyond the Executive Order, other federal actions are also focusing on foster youth. Recent federal investments in HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence program underscore the role housing plays in successful transitions to adulthood. Additionally the ACF calling on states to stop intercepting foster youth’s Social Security survivor benefits reflects a shift toward protecting the funds intended for their future. Alongside ongoing congressional conversations around the Chafee program and Chafee Education and Training Vouchers, these efforts point to the broad federal attention on improving outcomes for youth both in foster care and transitioning out of it.

What Does this Mean for Kentucky

For Kentucky, this combination of federal actions and broader momentum could substantially benefit foster youth and families across the Commonwealth. HHS and ACF, alongside the Executive Order, are creating clear expectations for state engagement and implementation, particularly as agencies move forward with new data reporting requirements to track and measure child welfare outcomes. These federal initiatives also have the potential to shape how the Commonwealth recruits and retains caregivers, connects youth to supports, and plans for successful transitions to adulthood. 

To ensure that implementation efforts reflect the needs and experiences of young people across the Commonwealth, Kentucky decisionmakers should use this moment to proactively engage with local lived experts, community-serving organizations, and federal partners.

As attention increasingly focuses on improving transitions to adulthood for foster youth, it reinforces the importance of ensuring young people have the basic tools they need to succeed. One of those tools is a state-issued ID. Without one, youth can face barriers to employment, housing, and accessing services, while also being more vulnerable to exploitation.

Learn more about the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priority to ensure every young person in foster care has state-issued identification at kyyouth.org/blueprintky. 

Learn more about True Up, an initiative focused on empowering young people with child welfare experience in advocacy and independence.