Legislation aimed at better protecting youth sent to residential treatment centers in California — a bill inspired by an Imprint and San Francisco Chronicle investigation — has been signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Senate Bill 1043 requires the state Department of Social Services to publicly report how often and why children have been physically restrained or sent to seclusion. When the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2026, parents, guardians, foster parents and tribal representatives must be informed of any such measures deployed in group care settings.
“Children and teens — especially those in the care of the foster system — should never be subjected to improper use of restraints, or isolation while they are meant to be receiving treatment,” Gov. Gavin Newsom stated in a press release today.
The governor also gave a nod to one of the bill’s chief proponents, a celebrity entrepreneur and social icon who has championed the cause of reforming the nation’s “troubled teen industry.”
“I am proud to sign legislation today to help protect our youth against such harmful tactics, and I’m grateful to Paris Hilton for using her voice to ensure that no child suffers like she did,” Newsom said.
For years, Hilton has advocated for state and federal reforms to improve the lives of young people sent to institutions — activism driven by her own traumatic experiences in residential treatment programs in California, Utah and Montana as a teenager. In these facilities she has described being force-fed medication, sexually assaulted by staff and “violently restrained.” Among other campaigns, Hilton has pushed Congress to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
In a joint press release with bill author Sen. Shannon Grove, Hilton said she was “beyond appreciative” for Newsom’s signature on SB 1043.
“For too long, these facilities have operated without adequate oversight, leaving vulnerable youth at risk,” Hilton said. “After being abused in a California facility in my teens, it is validating to see California taking a stand to protect our youth and I hope our state is the standard for transparency and accountability in these facilities moving forward. Today is a win for California children and youth!”
“Children and teens — especially those in the care of the foster system — should never be subjected to improper use of restraints, or isolation while they are meant to be receiving treatment.”
— Gov. Gavin Newsom
This outlet’s 2020 Far From Home, Far From Safe, investigation revealed that thousands of California foster youth had been sent to for-profit residential treatment centers out of state — problematic facilities with extensive histories of staff abuse. Teenagers, who were disproportionately Black, suffered everything from broken bones to sexual assault at the hands of employees.
Three weeks after reporters contacted the state Department of Social Services about the findings, all California youth sent out of state through the foster care or probation systems were brought back to the state. Months later, the social services department decertified all out-of-state residential treatment programs. And Gov. Newsom signed legislation that bars the practice of sending youth out of state in the future, committing $100 million for better treatment closer to home.
In a May interview with The Imprint, Sen. Grove said Far from Home, Far from Safe was among her inspirations for introducing the legislation.
“We spent a lot of money bringing all these kids home and condemning those organizations outside of California,” Grove said. “We want to make sure that there’s transparency to make sure that these kids are getting the care they need.”
Her successful bill centers on the thousands of times each year that youth in California’s group facilities are forcibly restrained in some way.
According to a legislative analysis, in 2023, there were roughly 3,000 instances of restraint or seclusion in state-licensed facilities in California. But the information is not publicly disclosed with other data the state posts to its licensing website. Hilton, Grove, and others seeking reform have focused on this gap.
In a tight-budget era when many pieces of legislation are being rejected for their price tags, the bill signed by Newsom today has an estimated cost of $57.6 million over the first four years, and $12.1 million annually after that.
“After being abused in a California facility in my teens, it is validating to see California taking a stand to protect our youth and I hope our state is the standard for transparency and accountability in these facilities moving forward.”
— Paris Hilton
Not all industry-watchers support the move.
Chris Stoner-Mertz, CEO of the California Alliance of Children & Family Services, the trade group representing the treatment facilities, said the legislation was misguided because advocacy in advance of its passage highlighted abusive practices that took place decades ago or in other states, and did not reflect current practice in California.
“We are disappointed that the rhetoric over this bill largely focused on a Utah-based organization and obscured the facts about Short-Term Residential Treatment Programs in California which are subject to rigorous licensing and oversight,” Stoner-Mertz said in an email.
She added that existing law requires reporting, and that the roughly 150 members of her group work hard to create “home-like settings with robust support from highly-trained mental health professionals.” Those staff “engage family in supporting the child whenever possible,” she said.
Staff in residential treatment centers are permitted to restrain a child during a behavioral crisis, either physically or by placing them in an unlocked “quiet room” or similar location where they can be safely isolated. Common, approved practices that aim to prevent young people from hurting themselves or others include physical holds that immobilize a kicking and thrashing child’s arms and legs.
While these practices are viewed as necessary “de-escalation” tools by staff and administrators working in residential facilities, some young people describe restraints as harmful experiences that exacerbated the trauma that caused the residential placement in the first place. According to licensing records, restraints can also cause physical injury to children, ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones and head injuries, this outlet’s investigation found.
Staff cannot deploy face-down restraints in California, or medicate a child solely to subdue a behavioral health crisis. The state Department of Social Services’s licensing division collects reports from facilities whenever restraints are used on children, and investigates potential licensing violations.
Under current law, treatment facilities must report restraints and isolation to the state, incidents that require a debrief with the staff involved. However, the information does not have to be made publicly available — leaving parents, caregivers, attorneys and social workers without critical information they need to select appropriate sites and monitor children’s care.
California is among the states with the strictest protections for minors in group settings. Nearly a decade ago, the state abandoned the traditional “group home” model in order to curb the harmful practice of warehousing kids simply because foster homes could not be found.
Instead, the state now offers short-term residential treatment centers, known as STRTPs. They are reserved only for young people requiring acute mental or behavioral health intervention and require periodic judicial oversight. As of August, there were 339 such programs licensed in California, serving 1,499 young people, according to a recent bill analysis. That number included 1,182 foster youth and 317 children sent to a facility by a probation department.
The newly signed law will ensure additional aspects of their care and treatment is more widely known.
“Through SB 1043, we are strengthening accountability measures within California’s STRTPs by requiring the public posting of critical information, including the use of restraints and seclusion rooms,” Grove said in a press release. “This legislation underscores California’s commitment to transparency and safeguarding the well-being of our at-risk children.”