First Lady Melania Trump visited Capitol Hill to support bipartisan efforts to modernize the Chafee foster care program, which serves youth ages 14 to 21. Lawmakers propose expanding access to housing, education and workforce training to improve outcomes for youth aging out of care. The move follows a GAO report showing states returned millions in unused Chafee funds and builds on the administration’s "Fostering the Future" initiative created by executive order last November. Mrs. Trump has led related "Be Best" efforts, including scholarships and international collaboration on child welfare.
Melania Trump Visits Capitol Hill to Push Bipartisan Update of Chafee Foster Care Program
First lady Melania Trump speaks to reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump made a rare visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to join a roundtable with House lawmakers advocating bipartisan updates to the Chafee foster care program, a nearly 30-year-old federal initiative that supports youth transitioning out of foster care.
Mrs. Trump, who began concentrating on foster care issues after President Trump’s first term ended in 2021, said she is eager to work with Congress to "advance new legislation designed to protect and empower individuals from the foster care community" and to "strengthen America’s next generation." She met with members of the House Ways and Means Committee and with people who have lived in foster care to discuss a package of proposals.
What Lawmakers Are Proposing
Republican and Democratic members of the committee have introduced several bipartisan bills to modernize the Chafee program. The measures would broaden access to housing, education, workforce training and other supports to improve outcomes for young people aging out of foster care and help them transition to independent adulthood.
The Chafee program provides services to current and former foster youth ages 14 to 21. Committee members described the bills as the most significant updates to the program since it was created in 1999.
Context And Related Initiatives
In January 2025, the Government Accountability Office reported that some states had returned millions of dollars in unspent Chafee funds to the federal government despite ongoing unmet needs among foster youth, underscoring lawmakers' interest in programmatic changes and better funding use.
Last November, President Trump issued an executive order establishing a federal "Fostering the Future" initiative to coordinate federal agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions and private-sector partners to expand career and educational opportunities for children raised in foster care. Mrs. Trump joined the president for the signing and separately leads a broader "Fostering the Future" effort within her "Be Best" child-focused campaign, which includes scholarships for current and former foster youth.
Mrs. Trump recently hosted an international summit with counterparts from more than 40 countries to promote global cooperation on education and technology access for vulnerable children. In March 2025 she also participated in a Capitol Hill roundtable on the Take It Down Act; the president signed that bill into law two months later, and the White House highlighted the first federal conviction under the statute last week.
Other Recent Developments
The visit came a week after the first lady delivered an on-camera statement from the White House denying any ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes; she urged Congress to hold hearings for his victims and called for an end to what she described as "lies" linking her to Epstein.
Bottom line: The White House and bipartisan lawmakers are pushing for a significant modernization of the Chafee program to better support youth aging out of foster care, and the first lady’s Capitol Hill engagement underscores the administration’s focus on foster-care reforms and related child-protection efforts.
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