Skip to content 
Photo: Paris Hilton. Credit: Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Michigan bill backed by Paris Hilton that would restrict how transportation companies restrain children being taken to residential treatment programs is now headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, MLive.com reported.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Senate approved House Bill 5514 by a nearly unanimous vote, sending the measure to the governor after it had already cleared the House.
The bill targets a part of the troubled teen industry that has received growing scrutiny: private transportation services hired to take young people from their homes to residential treatment facilities, sometimes across state lines.
Bill Would Ban Handcuffs, Hoods and Other Restraints
House Bill 5514 does not address sexual abuse specifically, but it targets coercive practices within the same residential-treatment system that has faced lawsuits and investigations over physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The legislation would prohibit youth transportation companies from using restraints such as handcuffs, chains, straitjackets, blindfolds and hoods while transporting children to residential treatment programs.
Physical holds would also be restricted. They could generally be used only when there is a substantial risk that the child or someone else could be physically harmed and other options are not sufficient.
The legislation would also prohibit transportation companies from picking up children between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Violations could result in civil fines of up to $1,000.
The restrictions would not apply to state-licensed hospitals or licensed foster family homes.
Survivors may have legal options when a facility, transportation company or other organization failed to protect young people from abuse, unsafe restraint practices or other forms of mistreatment.
Learn more about troubled teen industry abuse lawsuits, investigations and survivor legal options.
Lawmaker Says Constituent’s 12-Year-Old Was Shackled During Transport
Rep. Cam Cavitt, who sponsored the bill, has said he introduced the legislation after learning about the experience of a constituent’s child.
The 12-year-old boy was being transported to a treatment facility in Missouri when he was allegedly placed in leg shackles and handcuffs.
Cavitt said the child was not involved in the criminal justice system but was instead being taken somewhere his family believed could provide needed behavioral treatment.
The episode highlighted a gap in Michigan regulation. Although the state restricts restraint practices inside certain youth facilities and childcare institutions, the transportation of children to those programs has remained less regulated.
Paris Hilton Described Being Taken From Her Home at 16
Hilton testified in support of the bill in March, describing her own experience being transported to a youth residential treatment program as a teenager.
She said two men she had never met entered her home when she was 16, restrained her and took her away in the middle of the night.
Hilton has since become a prominent advocate for reforms involving residential treatment programs and the broader troubled teen industry. Her nonprofit, 11:11 Media Impact, has supported similar youth-safety legislation around the country.
During her Michigan testimony, Hilton argued that children entering treatment are often already in crisis and should not be subjected to restraint practices that can make the experience more frightening or traumatic.
Former Residential Treatment Patient Also Supported the Bill
Kyra Frankowski, who testified in March, described being sent from Ohio to Utah for residential treatment when she was 14.
Frankowski said she later began speaking publicly about her experience and heard from thousands of other young people who had been transported to residential programs.
She told lawmakers that restraint during these transports can have lasting psychological effects and argued that forcibly removing children from familiar surroundings is not supported by evidence as a therapeutic practice.
One Senator Raised Concerns About Worker Safety
The bill received broad support in the Senate, but Sen. Jim Runestad voted against it.
Runestad expressed concern that transportation workers could be placed at risk if they are prevented from restraining a young person before a dangerous situation escalates.
Supporters of the legislation argue that the bill still permits physical restraint when there is an immediate risk of harm and other measures are not enough.
Michigan Sends More Youth Out of State for Treatment
The transportation issue is especially important in Michigan because many young people are sent to treatment programs outside the state.
According to the most recent Michigan Department of Health and Human Services figures cited during debate over the bill, 152 Michigan youth had been referred out of state for care as of September 2025, at a cost of more than $13 million.
That was up from 122 youth the previous year.
Cavitt has acknowledged that Michigan’s law would not regulate restraint practices once a transportation vehicle crosses into another state. Even so, the bill would establish limits on how Michigan children can be picked up and transported at the beginning of those trips.
If Gov. Whitmer signs the measure, Michigan would add new restrictions to an industry that has faced increasing criticism over how children are transported, restrained and placed in residential treatment programs.
