All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have joined a federal initiative to balance the ratio of licensed foster homes and children in foster care.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families announced Thursday that every state joined the program, “A Home for Every Child,” to close the ratio gap.
Nationwide, 57 licensed foster homes exist for every 100 children in care, according to the ACF. Independent analyses put the actual national foster home-to-child ratio at 53 per 100 as of 2025.
Introduced last November as part of President Trump’s executive order on foster care and aligned with first lady Melania Trump’s Fostering the Future initiative, it aims to stabilize performance metrics by recruiting and retaining qualified foster families.
“When we launched A Home for Every Child to deliver on President Trump’s and First Lady Melania Trump’s Executive Order on Fostering the Future, we knew states were ready for a new approach — but the response has exceeded every expectation,” ACF Assistant Secretary Alex Adams said in a statement. “Fifty states joining this initiative sends a powerful message: America is ready to rally around children in foster care and the families who step forward for them.”
Mrs. Trump said the initiative is an “important step toward increasing the number of foster homes and solidifying support for foster families and caregivers.”
She added in a Saturday social media post, “Fostering the Future champions this type of advancement: expanding educational opportunity, strengthening financial security, and building a foster care ecosystem where every child can thrive in America.”
A Home for Every Child operationalized parts of the mandate by offering states an alternative Program Improvement Plan under the Child and Family Services Review, replacing paperwork exercises with ratio-based measures.
As states opt into the PIP pilot, they report their foster home-to-child ratio monthly, and ACF makes that data public via a national dashboard.
In renovating the federal government’s welfare monitoring program, Child and Family Services Reviews, states will be able to strategize prioritization rather than submit 14 separate area performance reports. A twice-yearly updated dashboard presents statewide data indicator performance on safety and permanency.
To incentivize participation, ACF’s “A Home for Every Child Innovation Challenge,” from this October through September 2027, invites all participating states and jurisdictions to compete for $7 million in cash awards for having the highest and most improved foster home-to-child ratios.
Monthly state-by-state data will be available to track headway and increase transparency into progress.
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