That's Hot: Paris Hilton Works to Protect Teens in Montana Youth Residential Homes

Well, this is a sentence I never thought I would write: Paris Hilton wrote a letter to Montana legislators beseeching them to pass laws to protect Montana kids in residential youth homes [also named Private Alternative Adolescent Residential or Outdoor Program (PAARP)].

It’s an issue that’s close to the hotel heiresses’ heart. As a teen, Hilton was sent away to multiple residential youth homes for troubled teens in California, Utah, and what she calls “MontIdaho” somewhere along the mountainous border between the two states. She buried a dark secret about her time at Utah’s Provo Canyon School for more than 20 years, revealing the physical and sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of the adults who were supposed to protect her there.

Montana has a handful of these youth facilities, that are geared toward reforming troubled teens through controversial methods like isolation, physical and medicinal restraints, psychological experiments, and often back-breaking labor. Parents pay a minimum of $2,000 per month to send their kids to these schools, which went largely unregulated until 2019 after legislation sponsored by Missoula Sen. Diane Sands passed. Earlier this month, in a Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee, Rep. Laura Smith of Helena outlined why further regulations are needed to protect kids in the custody of youth residential homes. Smith, who used to work at the Department of Health & Human Services, said she saw too many cases of abuse during her time at the agency, particularly the time she oversaw the closure of The Ranch for Kids .

Smith found an unexpected ally in the New York fashion icon. Hilton is working toward legislation that would regulate PAARP facilities nationwide. She has already helped several states like Utah and Oregon pass laws that would keep children in these facilities safe and successfully lobbied for national legislation.

“It was the most painful and traumatic experience of my life," Hilton told Good Morning America in October." "I had basically no human rights. I was cut off from the outside world, wasn't allowed to speak to my parents without being supervised. The fact that it's still happening today -- I just can't sleep at night, knowing that."

Hilton provided written testimony about her experiences, including time spent in Montana, prior to the Senate committee meeting on Friday. She also tweeted this:

Smith’s HB 218 passed the House and is now awaiting a vote in the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee. You can track the bill’s progress here.

ParentsTiffany WilliamsParis Hilton, congregate care, kids, teen youth homes, teen, teens, troubled teen