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“For the first time, children in foster care will have access to a dedicated investment and savings vehicle,” she said in remarks.
There are more than 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S., and many are considered financially vulnerable, according to federal data.
Those young adults are largely on their own and likely to lack access to financial resources, according to a 2024 white paper by The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a nonpartisan think tank.
“They don’t have parents to call when the rent is overdue, the tuition bill arrives, or they need help getting to a job interview,” the researchers wrote.
The new savings program was announced Thursday at an event with the first lady and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. It is the latest update to a broader “Fostering the Future” initiative started by the Trump administration in the fall.
Separately, Bessent has also been promoting Trump Accounts, also known as Section 530A accounts, which were created last year as part of President Donald Trump‘s “big beautiful bill.”
Those tax-deferred investing accounts are geared specifically for children under age 18 and include a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury for kids born between 2025 and 2028.
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