Paris Hilton slammed abusive child welfare programs and vowed to “not stop until all youth are safe” during a surprise appearance on Capitol Hill, RadarOnline.com can report.
The hotel heiress testified before Congress on Wednesday about the modernization of the nation’s foster care system.
While Hilton, 43, advocated for the modernization of child welfare programs, she also discussed her own history and experiences within the system, which date back to when she was a teenager.
“When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four residential facilities,” the Paris in Love star told the House Ways and Means Committee.
“For two years, I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff,” Hilton shared. “I was violently restrained, stripped naked, and thrown in solitary confinement.”
Even more shocking was Hilton’s claim that her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton, were “completely deceived” about the “inhumane treatment” she experienced 27 years ago.
“My parents were completely deceived, lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing,” she charged.
“So,” Hilton continued, “can you only imagine the experience for youth who were placed by the state and don't have people regularly checking in on them?”
The mom-of-two then demanded “meaningful oversight” into the country’s foster care system – a system that she described as nothing more than a multibillion-dollar industry.
“This $23 billion-a-year industry sees this population as dollar signs and operates without meaningful oversight,” Hilton told the congressional lawmakers. “What is more important? Protecting business profits or protecting foster youth lives?”
Meanwhile, the socialite-turned-mogul also used her testimony on Capitol Hill this week to ask that Congress reauthorize Title IV-B – a federal fund for child welfare programs across the country.
Hilton also asked Congress to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act – a federal bill that would establish programs to both support and implement best practices connected to the health and safety, care, treatment, and placement of youth in youth residential programs.
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“All of this helps to reform these facilities,” Hilton concluded her testimony this week, “and I will not stop until all youth are safe.”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Hilton’s testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday came just months after she welcomed her second child with husband Carter Reum.
The couple welcomed their daughter, London Marilyn Hilton Reum, in November 2023. They also welcomed their son, Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum, just ten months earlier, in January 2023.
"I’m here to be a voice for the children whose voices can't be heard,” Hilton expressed during her testimony. “As a mom, these stories break my heart.”