Starting Jan. 1, hundreds of state-licensed residential treatment centers for children and teens age 21 and under in California must comply with a new law that will provide greater transparency — particularly if they use restraint and isolation rooms.

After a juvenile is detained or placed in an individual room, the facility is required to provide a report to both the juvenile and their parent or guardian. The report must contain a description of the incident; which employees were involved; the reasons for their actions; how long the incident lasted; and other details.

A copy of the report must be submitted to the California Department of Social Services within seven days. The department is required to review reported incidents for any health and safety violations and to investigate the incident if necessary.

Another provision of the law requiring the department to make data about these incidents publicly available on its website will not come into effect until January 1, 2026. Then parents or guardians can weigh the difficult decision of sending their children to these facilities to access information about possible abuse of restraints and isolation rooms.

One of the bipartisan measure’s most prominent advocates as it made its way through the Legislature was Paris Hilton. In April, the hotel heiress, socialite and media personality visited the Capitol to advocate for legislation and speak about the physical and emotional abuse she experienced while staying in juvenile treatment centers in California and other states.

A vocal critic of the “problematic teen industry,” Hilton praised the law’s passage in August.

“For too long, these facilities have operated without proper oversight, putting at-risk youth at risk,” Hilton said in a statement. “I hope that our state will be the benchmark for transparency and accountability in these institutions in the future.”

In 2021, California banned the placement of troubled youth, including foster children, in for-profit out-of-state treatment centers after reports of rampant abuse. Alternatively, young people can be sent to short-term therapy facilities licensed by the state’s social welfare office. A year later, California passed a law to fund residential crisis treatment facilities for children on Medi-Cal.