Trump's New Executive Order: A Game-Changer for Foster Care – And How Project Milk Carton Fits In
Shining Light on Systemic Reforms: How Transparency and Data Can Drive Lasting Change for Vulnerable Families
What Trump’s New Foster Care Executive Order Means – and How Project Milk Carton Fits In
On November 13, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) aimed at reshaping how America’s child welfare and foster care systems use data, technology, and partnerships. Fostering the Future for American Children and Families
Executive orders can sound abstract, but the reality is simple: they shape how agencies behave. For children inside the foster care and CPS systems—and for the families who love them—these decisions have direct consequences: who gets investigated, who gets removed, who gets support, and who is left unprotected.
At Project Milk Carton (PMC), our mission is to “shine light on the missing”—the missing children, the missing data, and the missing accountability in America’s child welfare and foster care systems. We operate as a Guardian Decision Intelligence System: a public, data-driven, investigative platform that exposes failures, tracks funding, and makes system behavior visible at the state and county level.
This new Executive Order, in many ways, describes the world PMC has been building toward. It calls for:
Modern, transparent child welfare data
Outcome-focused scorecards for states
Technology and AI to guide decisions
Better support for youth aging out of foster care
Stronger collaboration with community and faith-based partners
In this article, we will:
Explain the EO in clear, detailed terms
Show how closely it aligns with the work PMC is already doing
Share how, with community support, we can go much further and push for real accountability, not just new rhetoric
Part I: What the Executive Order Actually Does
We’ll walk through the EO section by section.
Section 1 – Purpose and Policy: Acknowledging a Broken System
The EO opens with a statement of purpose.
The administration frames its goal this way:
Children should be raised in “safe and loving homes.”
When that is not possible, the foster care system must be ready to serve children in need.
The text explicitly acknowledges serious problems:
Children remain in foster care for years.
Youth who “age out” often face adult life with no meaningful support—struggling in education, employment, housing, and relationships.
Caseworkers are overburdened.
Information systems are outdated.
Some jurisdictions maintain policies that exclude otherwise qualified foster/adoptive families or organizations because of:
Their sincerely held religious beliefs, or
Their adherence to “basic biological truths” (a phrase signaling the ongoing policy debates around sex and gender).
The EO emphasizes that:
America’s children and youth—and the families who care for them—“deserve better.”
The administration, with “special leadership” from the First Lady, will harness federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to give children in foster care and those transitioning out the tools they need to succeed as adults.
In short: the EO openly admits that the status quo is not acceptable and points to data and technology as central tools for improvement.
Section 2 – Modernizing the Child Welfare System
Section 2 is the technical core of the EO and the area where Project Milk Carton’s work overlaps most closely.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) is directed, within 180 days, to take several actions.
2(a)(i) – Better Data, Better Transparency
HHS must:
“Update applicable regulations, policies, and practices to improve the collection, publication, utility, and transparency of State-level child-welfare data…”
This includes:
Improving collection of data that reflects child well-being and safety, not just bureaucratic metrics
Eliminating duplicative, high-cost, low-value reporting requirements
Expanding and speeding up publication of child welfare data
Making data more useful and transparent for decision-makers and the public
In plain terms:
Less meaningless paperwork
More meaningful, publicly accessible data about whether children are actually safe and systems are actually working
2(a)(ii) – Modern Information Systems
HHS is instructed to:
“Promote modernization of State child-welfare information systems and use of the most effective foster care management and outcome-tracking platforms…”
That means:
Encouraging states to upgrade outdated, fragmented databases
Promoting systems that actually track outcomes (safety, permanency, time in care), not just process steps
Incorporating modernization into the technical assistance HHS gives states
The message: child welfare should not be operating on technology from decades ago.
2(a)(iii) – Predictive Analytics and AI
HHS must:
“…expand States’ use of technological solutions, including predictive analytics and tools powered by artificial intelligence…”
Specifically to:
Increase caregiver recruitment and retention
Improve matching between children and caregivers
Deploy federal child welfare funding to “maximally effective purposes and recipients”
Here, the EO explicitly brings data science and AI into the child welfare conversation, asking states and HHS to use technology to inform who is recruited, how children are placed, and where resources go.
2(a)(iv) – A National State Scorecard
HHS must:
“Publish annually a scorecard that measures and is used to evaluate State-level achievement of key outcomes and metrics…”
The scorecard is to track:
Reducing unnecessary entries into foster care
Decreasing the time between reports of maltreatment and investigations
Reducing child injuries and fatalities caused by abuse or neglect
Increasing caregiver recruitment and retention
Improving caregiver–child matching
Reducing placement disruptions
Decreasing the average time children spend in foster care
Accelerating permanent placement (reunification, guardianship, adoption)
Increasing partnerships with non-governmental entities, including faith-based organizations
This is a shift from measuring process compliance (how many forms, how many visits) to measuring child outcomes and system performance in concrete terms.
Section 3 – “Fostering the Future”: Supporting Youth Who Age Out
Section 3 focuses on youth in foster care and those transitioning to adulthood.
HHS, in coordination with the Office of the First Lady and other agencies, must act within 180 days.
3(a) – “Fostering the Future” Initiative
The EO instructs HHS to:
“Establish a ‘Fostering the Future’ initiative…”
This initiative will create partnerships with:
Federal agencies
Private sector organizations
Academic institutions
Nonprofits
To provide educational and employment opportunities for youth in foster care or exiting foster care.
3(b) – Online “Fostering the Future” Platform
HHS is directed to:
“…launch, in conjunction with the National Design Studio, a ‘Fostering the Future’ online platform…”
The platform’s goals:
Help individuals who have been in foster care:
Assess their current needs
Find federal, state, and local services, including:
Housing
Education
Employment
Healthcare
Mentoring
Access a searchable database of resources
Receive customized plans to support self-sufficiency and success
So, the EO envisions a centralized digital gateway for foster youth to understand and access the supports available to them.
3(c)–(e) – Funding, Vouchers, and Scholarships
The EO also directs HHS to:
Develop a strategy so that unused funds returned by states from programs for youth exiting foster care are reallocated to:
Promote educational success
Support occupational advancement
Improve financial literacy and self-sufficiency
Increase flexibility in Education and Training Vouchers (ETVs) so they can be used for:
Short-term, career-focused, credential-awarding programs
Help states use educational scholarships created through tax-credited donations for children in foster care
The basic idea: ensure that money intended to support foster youth actually reaches them, and that education/training options are realistically tailored to their needs.
Section 4 – Maximizing Partnerships with Americans of Faith
Section 4 concerns faith-based organizations.
HHS, in coordination with the White House Faith Office and the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, must:
Address state and local policies that “inappropriately prohibit” the participation of qualified individuals or organizations in federally funded child welfare programs based on religious beliefs or moral convictions
Increase partnerships with:
Faith-based organizations
Houses of worship
To serve:
Families whose children are in foster care
Families whose children are at risk of entering foster care
This section seeks to bring more faith-based capacity into the child welfare space, particularly where local policies have limited their participation.
Section 5 – General Provisions: Legal Boundaries
Finally, Section 5 clarifies:
The EO does not change existing laws or override statutory authorities.
Implementation must be consistent with existing law and dependent on available funding.
The order does not create any enforceable right or benefit for any party.
In other words, this EO directs the executive branch but does not give individuals or organizations a new legal claim they can take to court.
Part II: How Project Milk Carton Already Embodies This Vision
Now we can ask: How does Project Milk Carton fit into this?
The alignment is striking. Many of the EO’s key aspirations—modern data, transparency, outcome tracking—are precisely what PMC was created to provide.
1. PMC as a Guardian Decision Intelligence System
The EO wants:
Better data
Better technology
Better oversight
PMC is:
A 501(c)(3) Guardian Decision Intelligence System that aggregates, analyzes, and publishes data on CPS, crime against children, missing children, and foster care funding at the national, state, and county levels.
Our mission is to “shine light on the missing” by:
Investigating and exposing failures in child welfare and foster care
Giving the public and stakeholders interactive access to critical statistics
Linking funding, policy, and outcomes in one place
This is exactly the type of intelligence infrastructure the EO is calling for.
2. Aligning with Section 2(a)(i): Data, Utility, and Transparency
The EO instructs HHS to improve:
“…collection, publication, utility, and transparency of State-level child-welfare data…”
PMC already:
Aggregates and publishes:
CPS investigation statistics
Child maltreatment reports
Child injuries and fatalities
Missing children data
Foster care and child welfare funding patterns
Allows users to:
Select states and counties
Explore trends over time
Compare jurisdictions and detect patterns
Uses this data to:
Expose system failures
Highlight where children are unsafe, missing, or underserved
Raise questions about how funding and outcomes diverge
PMC’s platform is a direct, practical realization of the EO’s demand for transparent and useful data.
3. Aligning with Section 2(a)(ii): Modern Platforms and Outcome Tracking
The EO calls for modern, effective management and outcome-tracking platforms.
PMC:
Demonstrates what a modern child-welfare intelligence platform looks like:
Interactive dashboards
Geographic drill-down from national to local levels
Outcome-oriented metrics (e.g., maltreatment, time in care, injuries/fatalities, missing children)
Integrates multiple domains:
CPS data
Crime data involving children
Missing children data
Funding streams and financial flows
This allows users to see:
Not just how many cases exist
But how those cases are handled, where risk is highest, and how funding correlates with—or fails to correlate with—safety and stability
PMC thus serves as both:
A model for how states and HHS might design their systems, and
An independent benchmark against which official systems can be compared.
4. Aligning with Section 2(a)(iii): Decision Intelligence, Analytics, and Targeting
The EO emphasizes:
“…technological solutions, including predictive analytics and tools powered by artificial intelligence, to… deploy Federal child-welfare funding to maximally effective purposes and recipients.”
PMC, as a decision intelligence system, is structured to:
Identify patterns in:
CPS investigations
Injuries and fatalities
Missing children cases
Local crime involving children
Reveal where risk is concentrated:
Which counties appear to be failing children
Where repeated harm is occurring
Illuminate funding versus outcomes:
Where significant funds are being allocated
Whether those funds are associated with better or worse child safety indicators
By doing so, PMC offers:
The foundation needed for smarter targeting of resources
Insights that can inform:
Policy reform
Advocacy
Local and state decision-making
This is precisely the kind of data-driven decision support the EO is seeking to promote.
5. Aligning with Section 2(a)(iv): The Scorecard We Already Provide
The EO requires a national scorecard to measure state performance on:
Reducing unnecessary foster care entries
Improving investigative response times
Reducing child injuries and fatalities
Improving recruitment, retention, and placement stability
Speeding up permanent placements
PMC:
Already serves as an independent scorecard of system performance, by:
Publishing state and county-level data
Tracking indicators related to child safety and system behavior
Making those indicators accessible and intelligible to the public
Focuses on:
Family preservation
Child safety and well-being
Accountability for injuries, fatalities, and missing children
Where the official HHS scorecard will be a government product, PMC’s intelligence system offers:
An external accountability lens
The ability to ask:
Does the government’s scorecard reflect what the raw data shows?
Are problem areas being accurately reported and addressed?
6. PMC’s Media Arm: Turning Data into Public Understanding
The EO is heavily focused on data—but data only changes systems when it is understood and used.
PMC’s media arm plays a crucial role:
Produces articles and explanatory pieces that:
Break down complex data
Highlight specific states or counties with alarming patterns
Show how policy and funding decisions translate into real outcomes for children
Educates:
Families
Advocates
Journalists
Policymakers
On:
What CPS and foster care data means
Where the system is falling short
How outcomes vary across jurisdictions
In doing so, our media work ensures that the intelligence generated by PMC does not remain confined to experts. It becomes part of the public conversation.
7. PMC’s Investigative Team: Shining Light on the Literally Missing
The EO repeatedly emphasizes safety, injuries, and fatalities. But one of the most haunting dimensions of system failure is missing children:
Children who disappear from foster care
Children whose whereabouts are unknown to the system that was supposed to protect them
PMC is building an Investigation Team to:
Investigate missing children's cases
Connect high-level data with individual stories and active investigations
Work alongside families, local advocates, and other entities to help locate missing children
Because PMC’s intelligence platform already:
Tracks missing children information
Maps patterns across jurisdictions
Our investigative work is not isolated—it is informed by data and feeds back into our analysis.
This creates a cycle of:
Data → Detection of patterns and anomalies → Investigation → New insight → Improved public understanding and pressure for reform.
Part III: With Community Support, We Can Do Much More
The Executive Order sets a federal direction. Project Milk Carton is already building many of the tools and public intelligence functions this direction requires.
But to fully “shine light on the missing” and sustain meaningful accountability, we need community support and participation.
Here’s how you can help.
1. Explore the Data – and Share What You Find
Use the PMC platform to:
Look up your state and county
Examine:
CPS investigation volumes
Maltreatment reports
Patterns of injuries and fatalities
Missing children information
Funding levels and how they align with results
Ask:
Are children here safer or less safe than in neighboring areas?
Are we seeing high risk with relatively high funding—suggesting deeper structural issues?
Then:
Share findings with:
Your networks
Local media
Community and faith-based organizations
Local and state representatives
Information becomes power when it is widely understood.
2. Support PMC’s Work Financially
PMC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. To maintain and expand our intelligence platform, media arm, and investigative capacity, we need:
Funding for:
Data infrastructure and hosting
Technical development
Research and analysis
Investigative operations
Donations—both one-time and recurring—help us:
Integrate more data sources
Enhance the precision of our tools
Expand coverage and improve depth in more states and localities
Your financial support enables us to keep shining light into dark corners of the system.
3. Contribute Skills: Technical, Research, and Investigative
We welcome support from individuals with:
Data and technical expertise:
Data engineering
Data science and analytics
Visualization and UI/UX
Policy and research skills:
Interpreting CPS and foster care policies
Connecting legal and policy changes to observed outcomes
Investigative experience:
Private investigators
Journalists
OSINT researchers
With these skills, you can help us:
Improve the platform
Deepen our analyses
Conduct targeted investigations
Turn emerging patterns into actionable knowledge
4. Connect PMC with Local Advocates and Organizations
If you know:
Child welfare advocates
Organizations supporting foster youth or families at risk
Journalists covering local CPS and foster care issues
Faith-based and community groups trying to help families in crisis
Introduce them to Project Milk Carton.
We can:
Provide localized intelligence to inform their work
Help them understand the data behind the stories they see
Supply objective, independent metrics they can use in advocacy and reform efforts
The EO talks about partnerships. With your help, PMC can be the data backbone that supports these partnerships.
5. Help Build Our Investigative Capacity on Missing Children
Our Investigation Team focuses on:
Locating missing children
Connecting dots across jurisdictions
Identifying patterns in where and how children disappear from care
We will need:
Investigators
Researchers
People with knowledge of local systems and communities
By helping PMC expand this team, you are directly contributing to efforts that can:
Help bring missing children home
Expose systemic vulnerabilities that allow children to disappear
Conclusion: Turning Policy Into Protection
This Executive Order signals that, at the federal level, there is recognition that child welfare and foster care systems must:
Use data more intelligently
Focus on outcomes, not just paperwork
Support youth beyond age-out
Engage a broad range of partners
Project Milk Carton is already building the independent intelligence infrastructure needed to make those goals real—and to hold systems accountable when they fall short.
We are here to:
Expose failures
Track funding
Illuminate risk
Educate the public
Investigate the missing
With community support, we can expand this work, sharpen it, and ensure that no child—and no systemic failure—remains hidden in the dark data.
If you believe America’s children deserve more than a broken system and invisible failures, we invite you to stand with us:
Explore the platform.
Share what you learn.
Support the work.
Help us shine light on the missing.
Visit Project Milk Carton Guardian Decision Intelligence System
To get involved reach out to ceo@projectmilkcarton.org