Amid headlines dominated by Iran and Munich, the Trump administration has quietly made strides to reform America’s foster care system.
Across the nation, nearly every state faces a critical shortage of foster homes. According to the Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, Alex Adams, there are only 57 foster homes for every 100 foster children. First Lady Melania Trump has made it her mission to improve these numbers and address the deep challenges within our child welfare system.
The administration’s child welfare reforms began early in President Donald Trump’s first term with the Family First Prevention Services Act, passed as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. This landmark legislation realigned federal child welfare funding toward prevention, allowing states to use Title IV-E funds (previously restricted to foster care maintenance) for evidence-based services that help keep children safely with their families. These services include mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and in-home parenting support. Notably, the act removed income eligibility restrictions, making preventive resources more accessible to families in crisis. It also limited federal funding for group homes to encourage family-based placements—recognizing that children thrive most in stable, loving homes.
In 2020, Trump built on these reforms with an executive order designed to strengthen public-private partnerships, streamline oversight, and expand resources for foster youth. While the Family First Act created a framework for prevention, too many children were still waiting too long for family placement. Drawing on Alex Adams’ successful reforms in Idaho, the administration increased collaboration with faith-based and community organizations to provide critical resources and reduce bureaucratic barriers that had long prevented these partners from helping effectively.
That same executive order advanced the goal of faster, permanent placements through reunification or adoption, particularly for older youth, sibling groups, and children with disabilities. It marked a decisive effort to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up in a family, not in the system.
At the end of November 2025, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump announced a new “Fostering the Future for America’s Children and Families” executive order. This initiative directed the Department of Health and Human Services to focus on two simultaneous goals: keeping children safely within their families whenever possible and expanding the number of available foster homes for those who need them.
This new order underscores the value of public-private collaboration—partnering with corporations, universities, nonprofits, and faith-based groups to provide education, mentorship, job training, and employment opportunities for foster youth. It also launched the development of a national online platform to identify needs and connect young people aging out of foster care with resources and support. Additionally, the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development were tasked with studying and improving financial literacy and housing stability for youth transitioning out of the system.
The 2025 order also emphasizes data-driven transparency by modernizing child welfare reporting, reducing red tape, and publishing an annual state scorecard tracking key benchmarks such as foster care entries, placement disruptions, and the average time children spend in care. These measures are designed to bring accountability and measurable progress to a system that too often operates in the dark.
Finally, 2025 saw the end of the so-called “Orphan Tax” when the Department of Health and Human Services instructed states to stop diverting Social Security survivor benefits from children in foster care, ensuring those funds go directly to the children who need them. Many states also charge biological parents for the cost of foster care, a practice that can make family reunification even harder. Ending these policies marks an important step toward fairness and compassion for vulnerable families.
The Trump administration has made significant, if underreported, progress in reforming America’s child welfare system. While no system can replace the stability of a strong family, these policies represent a genuine effort to strengthen families and support children when family structures break down. The family remains the cornerstone of society, and by investing in prevention, partnership, and permanence, the Trump administration has taken meaningful steps to ensure that every child, wherever possible, has a home to call their own.
Brooklyn Roberts is the Senior Director of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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