 While my experience was not through the foster care system, I know from personal experience the harm that is caused by being placed in youth residential treatment facilities. When I was 16 years old, I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported across state lines to the first of four youth residential treatment facilities. These programs promised healing, growth, and support, but instead did not allow me to speak, move freely, or even look out a window for two years.