how the new accounts stack up to existing options<\/a>, a hitch in the program arose: what about foster kids?<\/p>\nFor the original 530A Accounts, parents, adult siblings, grandparents, and legal guardians can open and operate the account on behalf of a child. Foster children though can be bumped from house to house, making it difficult to track who should have custody of their account.<\/p>\n
First Lady Melania Trump announced a policy tweak on June 11\u2013 creating Fostering the Future Accounts. State, territorial, and tribal governments can open Section 530A Accounts on behalf of a foster child.<\/p>\n
Once opened, governments or charities can deposit money in the accounts.<\/p>\n
The Administration for Children and Families says they want all states to open accounts by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a great moment we\u2019re in that people recognize how complicated, and really difficult life is for young people who are separated from their families,\u201d said Cathleen Palm, founder of Center for Children\u2019s Justice- an advocacy watch dog group for children in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The push of starting retirement funds early for children- foster and non foster alike- has gotten cautious bipartisan support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like the idea of like having to call them Trump Accounts,\u201d said Rep. Rick Krajewski with a laugh during an interview. A Philadelphia Democrat, Krajewski has spearheaded other foster care focused legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSetting kids up for success is important for, I mean, their well being. It\u2019s important for our economy,\u201d he said of the potential of the accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that\u2019s most powerful in the investment world is starting early. The earliest start the better because of compounding interest,\u201d said Donna Kline, a senior financial advisor at HBKS Wealth. When asked if the Fostering the Future accounts could be worthwhile\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still money they otherwise would not have and could use,\u201d Kline said. \u201cIf they have parents that can fund a Roth IRA or a 529, that\u2019s one thing. If they don\u2019t, this is still the best option.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Health & Human Services said today that 26 states have confirmed plans to open Fostering the Future accounts.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania is not on that list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have 67 counties. We do not operate a one universal child welfare system, We operate 67 child welfare systems,\u201d Palm said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services said they were reviewing if legislation was needed to open the accounts.<\/p>\n
In an email today, the department said it is on county offices to opt into the accounts, and that none have done so at this time.<\/p>\n
Other state\u2019s with county operated child and youth offices, like Colorado<\/a>, have initiated state level coordination for the accounts.<\/p>\nPalm says Pennsylvania has the potential to lead on setting up the accounts, because of already existing Keystone Scholar accounts- which the state treasury department manages.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, we have like- we have nothing but all the right ingredients to be moving this forward,\u201d Palm said.<\/p>\n
Lilly Broadcasting will have continuing coverage of this topic, analyzing the limitations and potentials of the accounts; and any updates on state engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new federal program offers a chance for foster kids to build long-term wealth, but states must solve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2288,37,28,5929,30,29],"class_list":["post-291933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bureau","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}