Paris Hilton joined lawmakers at the California state Capitol on Monday to support legislation that would require more transparency from youth treatment facilities licensed by the state.
The proposed Accountability in Children’s Treatment (ACT), jointly authored by Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove and Democratic state Sens. Aisha Wahab and Angelique Ashby, would require youth treatment facilities to report information related to the use of restraints and seclusion rooms.
“I know firsthand the horrors that happened behind the closed doors of youth residential treatment facilities,” Hilton said at a press conference at the state Capitol Monday. “In troubled teen industry facilities in California, Utah and Montana, I was subjected to abuse disguised as therapy, isolated from the outside world and denied even the most basic rights.”
The 43-year-old hotel heiress publicly shared her teenage experiences with abuse at a Utah boarding school in the 2020 documentary "This Is Paris." She has since been an outspoken advocate for the victims of abusive facilities and has campaigned for state and federal legislation aimed at regulating the so-called troubled teen industry.
“I will fight until every child is safe and keep shining my huge spotlight on these abuses," said Hilton, whose nonprofit 11:11 Media Impact sponsored the legislation.
Until 2020, California sent children to out-of-state facilities for treatment, but stories of abuse coming from out-of-state facilities led to the passage of legislation to return all California youth from out-of-state facilities, placing them instead into Short Term Residential Therapeutic Programs (STRTPs) in the state.
Although the facilities are required to report the use of restraints and isolation rooms to the California Department of Social Services, that information is not currently public. The proposed legislation would require data including the use of seclusion rooms, the use of restraints, and incidents resulting in serious injuries or deaths to be displayed on a public dashboard on the CDSS website.
“California has been on the forefront when it comes to recognizing the need to strengthen laws surrounding youth in congregate care,” Grove said in a statement. “I am honored to work side by side with Paris Hilton, a survivor of the troubled teen industry, on this children’s protection measure which will create more accountability in their treatment. When it comes to our children’s health and wellness we should only accept the highest level of transparency in these areas of care.”
Story via TMX