(DCWatchdog.com) – In a chilling account, Paris Hilton, the famous socialite and media figure, has testified before a congressional panel on child welfare protections, revealing that she was “force-fed medications and sexually abused by staff” during her time in youth institutions as a teenager.
Hilton, who is an advocate for improved protections for children in youth facilities, disclosed harrowing experiences with the House Ways and Means Committee.
She recalled being “violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement.”
Hilton, 43, has previously revealed she had undergone “a parent-approved kidnapping” at four different youth facilities.
In her words, in order to deal with her rebellious behavior, her parents resorted to the “misleading marketing of the troubled teen industry.”
Hilton said what she described as “tough love” teen course-correction business was a $50 billion industry of “therapeutic boarding schools, military-style boot camps, juvenile justice facilities, and behavior-modification programs.”
The socialite dwelled on the “isolating and traumatic” nature of her institutional experience.
She disclosed that her phone calls were monitored, meaning she was unable to tell her parents about any abuse she experienced.
“It’s really difficult to tell anyone in the outside world. A lot of these kids are not believed because these places tell the parents they’re being lied to and manipulated because they want to go home,” Hilton told the panel.
She called upon the US Congress to adopt the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which would boost the oversight of residential youth programs.
She also spoken in favor the re-authorization of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act and advocates for a “Bill of Rights” for children in youth facilities.
The Provo Canyon School, one of the institutions Hilton attended, reacted to her claims by arguing that it used to be under different management at the time and “therefore cannot comment on the operations or student experience prior to that time.”
“What we can say is that the school provides a structured environment, teaching life skills, providing behavioral health therapy, and continuing education for youth who come to us with pre-existing and complex emotional, behavioral and psychiatric needs,” the school alleged.
During the hearings, Hilton stated her parents had been “completely deceived” about the therapeutic treatment she was supposed to receive.
“These programs promised healing, growth and support, but instead, did not allow me to speak, move freely or even look out a window for two years,” she said.
Copyright 2024, DCWatchdog.com
