as a teenager as part of a push to change laws governing youth care facilities. to change laws governing she has spent months campaigning for safeguarding and reform at residential programmes aimed at troubled teens. at a washington dc event with lawmakers and rights advocates, she spoke about her experience. i was strangled, slapped across the face, watched in the shower by male staff, called vulgar names, forced to take medication without diagnosis, not given a proper education, thrown into solitary confinement in a room covered in scratch marks and smeared in blood, and so much more. i wish i could tell you that what i experienced and witnessed was unique or even rare, but sadly it is not. every day in america children in care settings are being physically, emotionally and sexually abused.-