Paris Hilton arrives in Jamaica.Photo:Courtesy of 11:11 Media Impact
Courtesy of 11:11 Media Impact
Paris Hiltonis lending her voice to an issue close to her heart.
The entrepreneur mom, 43, traveled to Treasure Beach, Jamaica, on April 3 for a press conference addressing the seven American boys who have been held in the custody of the Jamaican Child Protection and Family Services Agency.
The boys, currently living in Jamaican group homes, were removed from Atlantis Leadership Academy, a “troubled teen” program, after the program was found to be mistreating students in a way “amounting to abuse,” perNBC News.
Hilton — who has been deeply focused on her advocacy against institutional child abuse and neglect in youth residential programs — appeared alongside children’s rights attorney Dawn J. Post, survivor Chelsea Maldonado, and attorney Michael McFarland to call for change.
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Paris Hilton delivers speech in Jamaica amid recent troubled teen news.Courtesy of 11:11 Media Impact
“My visit here is a show of support for the Jamaican action that has been taken and for encouraging the U.S. government at all levels to take this issue seriously and to act with urgency,” Hilton said at the press conference.
“While we wait for the government to take action, survivors will continue to uncover this broken system and expose those who are putting profits over the well-being of our most vulnerable youth. We will protect the powerless ourselves.”
Hilton expressed her gratitude “to local authorities for intervening to save American children.” In addition to speaking out Hilton and her team are working closely with lawyers and advocates to offer support for the seven boys.
Paris Hilton converses with the impacted at Treasure Beach, Jamaica press conference.Courtesy of 11:11 Media Impact
In her 2023 bookParis: The Memoir, Hilton talked about her traumatic time in a CEDU boarding school programs and even alleged sheexperienced sexual abusethe Provo Canyon School in Utah. InParis, she details numerous attempts to escape the multiple “emotional-growth boarding schools” she attended during her high school years and her efforts to convince her parents to bring her home.
Paris recalled during one of her allocated 15-minute calls with her mom, she tried to explain, “This place is f—ed up! You don’t even know!”
Carter Reum supports wife Paris Hilton in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.Courtesy of 11:11 Media Impact
“Congress and President Biden need to enact a basic federal ‘bill of rights’ for youth in congregate care. Every child placed in these facilities should have a right to a safe, humane environment, free from threats and practices of solitary confinement, and physical or chemical restraint at the whim of staff,” Hilton wrote. “Had such rights existed and been enforced, I and countless other survivors could have been spared the abuse and trauma that have haunted us into adulthood.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
