Paris Hilton, the celebrity businesswoman and hotel chain heiress, is urging New Hampshire lawmakers to approve reforms to out-of-state placements for children in state custody.
The New Hampshire Senate is set to take up a bill Thursday that outlines new criteria for how children are placed in residential treatment facilities and adds more oversight to that process. It has the support of the state’s Office of the Child Advocate, and the endorsement of the entire Senate Judiciary Committee.
The proposal follows reports filed last year by the Office of the Child Advocate that detailed abuse and neglect at Bledsoe Youth Academy, a Tennessee facility where two New Hampshire boys were placed, then removed, by the state.
Hilton has spoken out in recent years about her own harrowing experiences in youth treatment facilities, and has become a forceful advocate, in Congress and elsewhere, for changes to the industry.