Paris Hilton joined Sen. Shannon Grove (R–Bakersfield) in Sacramento on Monday to advocate for children and young adults who live in state treatment facilities.
Hilton’s nonprofit 11:11 Media Impact has sponsored Grove’s Senate Bill 1043.
The big picture: SB 1043 would require transparency in state facilities licensed by the California Department of Social Services.
- All information related to the use of restraints and seclusion rooms would be made public under SB 1043.
- Grove introduced the bill alongside Sen. Angelique Ashby (D–Sacramento) and Sen. Aisha Wahab (D–Hayward).
The backstory: California had historically sent children to out-of-state facilities to receive treatment, but numerous reports revealed abuse, leading to the Legislature to pass Assembly Bill 808 in 2021.
- AB 808 stopped sending foster youth to out-of-state facilities and also created the Child’s Continuum Pilot Program to develop care for foster youth.
- While Short Term Residential Therapeutic Programs serve as an alternative for out-of-state treatment facilities, they do not publicly report when seclusion rooms and restraints are used.
What they’re saying: “I know firsthand the horrors that happened behind the closed doors of youth residential treatment facilities,” Hilton said at a press conference on 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.”
- Grove added, “Knowing what these children have been through, we must increase transparency.”
