Juvenile facilities: visitation

The Hug Act guarantees confined youth the right to consensual, appropriate physical contact with visitors during in-person visits.

The law protects family connection in juvenile facilities by barring facilities from using limits on physical contact as punishment.

What the law does

Allows appropriate consensual contact, including hugs at the beginning and end of visits and holding hands.
Permits temporary, individualized limits only for significant safety or security concerns, court-ordered visitation restrictions, or specific temporary health concerns.
Requires facilities to document each concern, restriction duration, and measures to restore physical-contact visits.
Requires juvenile facilities to adopt visitation rules and procedures consistent with these protections.

Youth confined in juvenile facilities before, during, or after wardship adjudication.
Their in-person visitors, including family members and loved ones.
Juvenile facility staff and administrators.

The Division of the Ombudsperson of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration may request the facility's documentation.