Paris Hilton in Washington: socialite visits White House to push for child abuse law

Reality TV star was in Washington to lobby for law to protect children in residential treatment programmes

Celebrity Paris Hilton leaves the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Bloomberg

Reality TV star and socialite Hilton in Washington. Bloomberg

Hilton arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building to meet members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. EPA

Celebrity Paris Hilton, left, walks out the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, D. C. , US, on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. Crypto-payments company MoonPay got almost 16% of its most recent funding round from celebrities including Hilton the company said in a statement last month. Photographer: Ting Shen / Bloomberg

Hilton arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building. EPA

Hilton arrives at the Hart Senate Office Building. EPA

Hilton brings a small entourage to the Hart Senate Office Building. EPA

Hilton at the Hart Senate Office Building. EPA

Hilton was in Washington to meet members of Congress. EPA

Hilton on Capitol Hill in Washington. EPA

Reality TV star and Hilton Hotels heiress Paris Hilton visited the White House on Tuesday on her second visit to the nation's capital to lobby for a child abuse law.

“What an impactful Day 1 in Washington, DC,” Hilton tweeted on Tuesday evening.

“It has been so encouraging speaking with policy staff, senators and representatives in the White House and on Capitol Hill to advocate for children placed in residential treatment programmes.

“I will not stop until change is made.”

A White House staffer told CNN that Hilton “was at the White House with state and national advocates as part of her advocacy efforts to improve protections of youths in residential programmes and facilities”.

Hilton “met with policy staff where she and other survivors shared their powerful stories and discussed issues pertinent to the protection of institutionalised youth in America”, the White House staffer said.

The star has personal experience with abuse at residential care facilities as she suffered physical and emotional abuse when she was sent to boarding school in Utah as a teenager. She shared details of the abuse in the YouTube documentary This is Paris in 2020.

On a previous visit to Washington to lobby on the issue in October 2021, she spoke outside the US Capitol building about the “troubled teen industry” she and other survivors are fighting against.

The Accountability for Congregate Care Act would give more rights to children in youth centres and increase oversight of the industry, giving children in such facilities rights to clean drinking water and healthy food.

It would also allow children in congregate care centres to call their parents.

Chuck Grassley, a senator from Iowa, posted a photo with Hilton after their meeting on Tuesday,

“Met with Paris Hilton to discuss how we can stop abuse of children in residential care facilities,” he tweeted.