- Donald Trump issued an executive order to address anti-religious sentiment in foster care programs.
- The president instructed RFK Jr. to overhaul how states measure foster care program success.
- Utah first lady Abby Cox applauded Trump's announcement after launching her own initiatives.
President Donald Trump instructed federal agencies to revamp the nation’s child welfare services on Thursday by improving data collection in all 50 states, increasing career opportunities for foster children and enhancing partnerships with faith groups.
The executive order tasked Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with strengthening federal ties to religious organizations that serve foster families, and with confronting policies that discourage qualified families from participating in programs because of sincerely held beliefs.
Just this year, Christian couples in Vermont, Oregon and Massachusetts have sued state agencies for requiring foster and adoptive parents to sign a form promising to affirm the gender identity and sexual orientation of a child, or else risk having their foster license revoked for refusing to comply.
“My Administration is dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes,” Trump’s order said. “Our Nation’s children and youth — and the families who care for them — deserve better."
The order gives Kennedy 180 days to overhaul state child-welfare data collection to provide better care for children, quicker matches with parents and detailed tracking of outcomes. An annual scorecard will be published to rank states on the number and safety of children in foster care.
Trump also announced a new “Fostering the Future” initiative with first lady Melania Trump that aims to create educational and employment opportunities for foster children through new partnerships between federal agencies and private sector organizations, including schools and nonprofits.
Trump’s announcement comes as the U.S. continues to face a serious deficit of licensed foster homes. In 2024, there were roughly 329,000 children in foster care, part of steady decline from previous years, but the number of licensed foster homes has also been falling, totaling less than 200,000 in 2023.
What did Abby Cox say about Trump’s proposal?
“I applaud every effort that strengthens the well-being of these youth and families,” Utah first lady Abby Cox told the Deseret News. “Utah is a state grounded in strong family values, and we remain committed to helping every child in care find lasting permanency and a place to call home.”
The shortage of foster families reached historic highs in Utah last year, with 1,756 children in the foster care system but only 822 licensed foster families — the lowest number in over 25 years. This has prompted Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Abby Cox to make the issue one of their priorities.
The governor, in his budget recommendations for 2023, drew national attention for proposing a 50% increase in overall dollars for foster care and kinship placements. This came not long after the first lady established her Show Up initiative, encouraging community support for foster children.
Last year, Cox sent a formal invitation to faith congregations, asking members to consider caring for foster children. A similar push occurred under former Gov. Mike Leavitt when area presidencies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged members to enter the program.
In September, the first lady announced the statewide launch of Care Communities for foster families. The initiative, which started as a pilot program in 2023, builds volunteer groups of eight to 10 people to support a single foster family with things like meals, laundry and babysitting.
Care Communities received the backing of Utah’s interfaith community, including the Church of Jesus Christ, which has worked in “close collaboration” with the program to create “nurturing environments” for the children served by foster families, Abby Cox said.
Utah regularly ranks No. 1 in the country on metrics of charitable giving, economic outlook and religiosity. The state also ranks No. 1 in the country for how quickly it moves children out of the foster care system, according to a 2023 American Enterprise Institute report.
Utah ranked so well largely because more than 61% of Utah infants in foster care who could not be reunified were adopted within 18 months, compared with fewer than 15% nationally. And the state had almost no young children in foster care longer than three years.