Rep. Earl L. Carter, US Representative for Georgia's 1st District | Official U.S. House headshot
Rep. Earl L. Carter, US Representative for Georgia's 1st District | Official U.S. House headshot
Tens of thousands of children reside in youth residential treatment facilities across the nation. Ideally, these programs offer counseling, treatment, and care for struggling teens and children. However, investigations have revealed distressing incidents of abuse at some centers, including fight clubs, sexual abuse, forced isolation, inadequate medical care, and even death.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) recently joined Paris Hilton on Fox News to advocate for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act. Hilton has personal experience with abuse as a teen in institutional care. The proposed bill aims to provide greater oversight and data transparency for institutional youth treatment programs to ensure parents and children have an accurate understanding of these centers' practices, goals, and ethics.
ON THE NEED FOR FEDERAL OVERSIGHT
"What we want is to have oversight and to have transparency... particularly when there is a nexus between the federal government [and] funding these centers," said Rep. Carter.
"We have a responsibility...to make sure we have oversight over these facilities."
ON BAD ACTORS IN TROUBLED TEEN INDUSTRY
"I don’t doubt that there are some good institutions that are doing great work out there, but there are also some bad actors as there are in every profession. [Those are] the ones that we are after here," Carter stated.
“We need transparency. We need oversight.”
Watch the full interview here.
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