First lady Melania Trump speaks about Trump Accounts for children in foster care at the Department of Treasury, Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert) On June 11, First Lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Fostering the Future Accounts, a new pathway that allows state child welfare agencies to open Trump Accounts for the roughly 330,000 children in foster care nationwide.
Twenty-three governors have pledged to enroll the children in their states’ care. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-Ark.) moved first, committing days ahead of the federal announcement to enroll every foster child in her state, about 4,300 children. Rather than waiting for someone to sign up each child one by one, the government will enroll them all. No child is left out.
Arkansas’s child welfare agency explained why this matters: Opening an account “can be challenging, especially for youths who must enter foster care. This program helps close that gap and ensure that all children can begin to save for their future.”
That explanation contains the most important lesson for the design and implementation of Trump Accounts. When signing up is hard, it should be done for the child rather than left to a parent.
Opt-in systems consistently leave behind the families with the least resources, meaning the children who would benefit most are the ones least likely to be enrolled. Fostering the Future shows that federal and state governments can be partners in enrolling children into Trump Accounts to achieve full participation.
Trump Accounts, which officially launched on July 4 with the first $1,000 deposits reaching eligible children born between 2025 and 2028, are a major national commitment to building wealth for children. Every account is an entry point to multiple resources: the federal $1,000 seed deposit for children born between 2025 and 2028, employer matches from companies like JPMorgan Chase and Intel, Michael and Susan Dell’s $6.25 billion philanthropic pledge, and growing state contributions.
But a child receives none of these without an account, and opening one requires a parent to file IRS Form 4547 or register at TrumpAccounts.gov, verify their identity and complete a multistep process. As of late May, nearly 6 million children had been signed up. More than 67 million eligible children had not.
This gap was predictable. In the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment, the nation’s longest-running randomized trial of children’s investment accounts, which our center at Washington University has run for 18 years, the state treasurer opened accounts for children at birth, and fewer than one family in a thousand opted out. Where enrollment was left to families in the same state, about 6 percent opened accounts.
Maine tells the same story statewide: When enrollment depended on each parent, the program reached 40 percent of eligible newborns. When it began enrolling every newborn automatically, coverage reached 100 percent.
Fostering the Future shows the path forward for the other 67 million children. Foster children were left out because no parent was positioned to act for them. Millions of other children are left out because forms, identity checks, and busy lives get in the way.
The cause differs, but the result is identical: Children with no account through no fault of their own. The remedy is identical, too. If the government can enroll every child in foster care, it can enroll every child in America. The tools already exist; what remains is the policy design: enroll every child automatically and let any family opt out. The Social Security Administration recently announced it will work with states to incorporate Trump Account enrollment into the hospital forms used to request a newborn’s Social Security number, potentially facilitating automatic account creation.
States are already engaging at every point of the policy design. Oklahoma’s governor signed into law a $12.5 million appropriation to deposit $250 into eligible children’s Trump Accounts. Alabama passed legislation excluding Trump Account contributions from state taxable income.
State treasurers’ offices, which have managed children’s college savings for decades, are exploring roles as account trustees. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) used Tax Day to urge families to claim both CalKIDS, his state’s own children’s savings program, and the federal $1,000. Funding, tax relief, account management, outreach and now enrollment itself.
States are also proven leaders in early wealth building. California, Pennsylvania, Maine and Nevada already operate statewide children’s savings accounts with automatic enrollment, reaching every newborn, at scale and sustainably. Full inclusion is achievable in practice, and states know how to deliver it. That experience is exactly why the Treasury Department should actively engage states as partners in Trump Accounts. States can help enroll children, add money and manage the accounts for the long term.
None of this requires waiting. The federal government has just shown how it works: Recognize a responsible institution, let it open the accounts, and every child in its care is included. Every child in America deserves that.
The Treasury Department should adopt automatic enrollment for Trump Accounts, and states should be partners in achieving it. All kids in, building wealth from day one.
Jin Huang is the Irving Louis Horowitz Professor in Social Policy and co-director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
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