Hotel heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton has relayed her experiences of institutional child abuse while addressing the House Ways and Means Committee in the United States Congress.
"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 youth residential treatment facilities," the 43-year-old said.
"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.
"I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff.
"I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked and thrown into solitary confinement.
"My parents were completely deceived, lied to and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing."
Hilton is a vocal advocate
Ms Hilton has previously spoken out about the emotional and physical abuse she's endured at youth facilities, including in the 2020 YouTube documentary This is Paris and her 2023 memoir Paris: The Memoir, as her parents looked for ways to address her rebellious behaviour.
While her experiences weren't through the foster care system, she acknowledged to Congress, Hilton said she knows from personal experience that children are being placed in harm's way.
"Today residential facilities are continuing to warehouse over 50,000 foster youth, and an unknown number of adopted youth, in lockdown facilities," she said.
"Innocent kids who've not committed crimes, kids whose parents didn't have resources to support them, kids whose parents passed away, kids who've already experienced trauma."
She said the $US23 billion ($34.6 billion) industry operates without meaningful oversight.
Ms Hilton cited examples of children who were maltreated in care, such as 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks, who in 2020 died at a Michigan centre after being physically restrained for 12 minutes as punishment for throwing food.
"Why can't we as a society see that these kids are hurting?" she asked the committee.
"They need love and kindness, not beatings and restraints.
"As a mum, these stories break my heart," the mother of two added.
"I'm here to be a voice for the children whose voices can't be heard."
Ms Hilton, who is the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, has previously called for a Utah boarding school she attended, Provo Canyon School, to be shut down, referring to it as "the worst of the worst".
The heiress shot to fame as a socialite and co-star of the early 2000's reality TV series The Simple Life with her friend, Nicole Ritchie, who is the adopted daughter of Lionel Richie.
In recent years, she has been a singer, DJ, podcaster, influencer and entrepreneur.
It's also not the first time she's advocated for child safety in Washington, DC.
