Paris Hilton delivers her opening remarks during a House Ways & Means Committee hearing on child welfare.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We'll start with you, Ms. Hilton.
00:04Thank you.
00:07Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Neal, and members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity
00:13to be here today to discuss how to improve care for the nearly 400,000 children that
00:17are living in the foster care system as we speak.
00:21While my experience was not through the foster care system, I know from personal experience
00:25the harm that is caused by being placed in youth residential treatment facilities.
00:31When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported
00:35across state lines to the first of four youth residential treatment facilities.
00:41These programs promised healing, growth, and support, but instead did not allow me to speak,
00:46move freely, or even look out a window for two years.
00:50I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff.
00:54I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into
00:59solitary confinement.
01:02My parents were completely deceived, lied to, and manipulated by this for-profit industry
01:08about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing.
01:11So can you only imagine the experience for youth who are placed by the state and don't
01:16have people regularly checking in on them?
01:19I attended facilities with foster and adopted youth, and I heard their testimony that they
01:25feel like they were forgotten, being shipped from facility to facility their whole childhoods.
01:31Today, residential facilities are continuing to warehouse over 50,000 foster youth, an
01:37unknown number of adopted youth, in lockdown facilities.
01:42Innocent kids who have not committed crimes, kids whose parents didn't have resources to
01:46support them, kids whose parents passed away, kids who have already experienced trauma.
01:54This $23 billion a year industry sees this population as dollar signs and operates without
02:00meaningful oversight.
02:02It costs approximately $800 to $1,000 per day to place a foster youth in a facility,
02:09significantly more expensive than serving them in their own communities.
02:13What is more important, protecting business profits or protecting foster youth lives?
02:20Sixteen-year-old Cornelius Fredericks was placed in a facility because his mom tragically
02:24died and his dad was in prison.
02:28His life ended after being tackled and violently restrained by eight staff members for nearly
02:33ten minutes after innocently throwing a sandwich in the cafeteria.
02:38They killed him on the floor of the lunchroom in front of dozens of other children.
02:45Emergency services had been called 300 times in the year leading up to his death, with
02:4956 violations substantiated by the state.
02:54The state could have prevented this.
02:57Jesseon Terry's life ended at just seven years old.
03:00In his final hours, he was publicly shamed, verbally abused, left in his room alone for
03:06nearly six hours, and physically restrained by staff members until he lost consciousness.
03:12When first responders arrived, there was vomit in his mouth and throat running down his cheeks
03:17and onto the floor.
03:19Why can't we as a society see that these kids are hurting?
03:23They need love and kindness, not beatings and restraints.
03:27As a mom, these stories break my heart.
03:31When your child is born, your heart is full of love, of all hopes and dreams you have
03:35for them.
03:37I assure you that these were not the dreams that were envisioned for Cornelius, Jesseon,
03:42and thousands more who have suffered immensely.
03:45I am here to be the voice for the children whose voices can't be heard.
03:49While this committee has a responsibility to move bipartisan solutions forward to protect
03:54them, I strongly advocate for the reauthorization of Title IV-B.
04:00Families need resources and support so they don't need to come into the child welfare
04:04system in the first place.
04:06For children who do end up in foster care, we cannot allow them to grow up in facilities.
04:12The treatment these kids have had to endure is criminal.
04:15These kids deserve to grow up in safe, family-centered environments.
04:19I will not stop until America's youth is safe.
04:23I have helped pass nine state laws on this issue.
04:26I am strongly advocating for the federal bipartisan Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
04:31I supported the Senate Finance Committee report, Warehouses of Neglect, that validates
04:36everything those with lived experience have been saying.
04:40And I recently went to Jamaica to support and find appropriate placements for American
04:44adopted youth who had been raped, waterboarded with a hose, and held in solitary confinement
04:50in a facility internationally.
04:53Their parents had adopted them when they were young, promised them a better life, and then
04:57shipped them off to an international facility to be warehoused there until they turned 18.
05:03How could we let this happen to them?
05:06Progress isn't an option anymore.
05:08It's a life or death responsibility.
05:11If you are a child in this system, hear my words.
05:15I see you.
05:16I believe you.
05:18I know what you're going through, and I won't give up on you.
05:22You are important.
05:23Your future is important.
05:25And you deserve every opportunity to be safe and supported.
05:28Congress, please join me in creating a world where all children have a right to family,
05:33love, education, and the support they need.
05:37Thank you for your time, and I'm happy to answer any of your questions.
05:40Thank you, Ms. Hilton.
05:42Mr. Green, Mr. Gein, you are now recognized.