United States President Donald Trump signed a new executive order that aims to provide better support for foster children exiting the system by giving them a pathway to education and employment.
The executive order also aims to expand opportunities for housing and other resources for young people who transition from foster care to adulthood. Currently, there are more than 15,000 youths who get out of the foster care system every year.
Donald Trump Signs New Executive Order
Ahead of the signing of the executive order, Trump said, “Unfortunately, too many struggle to become self-sufficient.” He noted that these foster children will “never be forgotten,” adding that they will one day become “unbelievable, strong, smart, wealthy, productive citizens.”
There are about 17,000 children who are in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services at any given time. Out of the youths who are aging out of the system, roughly 20 percent face homelessness immediately upon leaving, while about 40 percent face homelessness within the first year and a half, according to NBC Chicago.
Data showed that only about 3 percent of the children who get out of the foster care system actually complete college. The vice president and chief operating officer at Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois, LaTasha Roberson Guifarro, said that education is one of the “strongest stabilizers for young people.”
She noted that young people who are transitioning out to adulthood are the ones who carry the weight and the trauma of what their experience has been up to that point. Guifarro said that it is up to leaders to prepare them for what comes next.
Helping Foster Care Children Transition Out of the System
At the White House, Trump referenced the Bible, which he said tells people that one of the measures of any society is how it cares for vulnerable children and orphans. He argued that in order to “Make America Great Again,” they should protect American children in foster care, Business Standard reported.
Trump’s new executive order builds on an initiative that his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, recently spearheaded. The initiative aims to improve career and education opportunities for children raised in foster care.
Melania said that the initiatives in her husband’s new executive order give her “tremendous pride,” adding that the effort was both “empathetic and strategic.” The First Lady called on leadership from various organizations to join her effort in helping foster care children have a better future, as per The Guardian.
Originally published on parentherald.com
