Kids Club - Camilla Batmanghelijdjh

When I forst read articles about Kids Company years ago, they seemed to be using psychotherapists and mental health professionals etc.

I wonder when it changed to money in envelopes.

I'm a child protection social worker and a great supporter of CB. I think they have mopped up kids where other charities don't. To offer support into the 20's is a good thing, not everyone is ready to be independent at 18 especially if they've had poor family support. Plenty of people get into drug circles at this age because what they're really looking for is a sense of belonging and somewhere to go. I also think if a pair of the right shoes is all thats stopping a person going to school, then that's a small price to pay especially if someone's self esteem is damaged or non-existent. Likewise paying the taxi fare of a disabled volunteer is good, since KC get a capable person's help free. The time spent on individual children must be immense. Also, giving young people pocket money isn't necessarily a bad thing, they'd get it if they were in care, why not when they have a lot of support?
Social Services used to work this way, until budgets took priority.
There always will be abused young people in places like KC and managing them will be difficult, but I believe KC did work with social services when necessary. CB has a gift for publicity for a subject often ignored and I suspect CB is right, this gov't hates anything to do with social work and helping the poor and now they don't have to share power they can get rid of many social work things and cast aspersions over things CB so they can cut down the welfare state to beyond its bare bones, which is their real agenda.

I don't think it is helpful or professional to use the dreadful abuse of children to score points in an argument in order to try and explain the failure of an organisation. We know that there have been and still are children who desperately need help and care and that Kids Company was trying to do this. I would have more sympathy for CB if she was apologising for the failure of the organisation and admitting that something had gone wrong. Instead she seems to be lashing out at anyone and everyone. Rather different from the woman who courted celebrities and politicians when it suited her.

Which year end figures was Michael Gove commenting on in May? Presumably 2013/14. Any audit for this year would have identified the forthcoming cash flow crisis.

Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh claims scale of child sex abuse by senior Establish figures is worse than we think.

The Independent.

"Some child protection police officers had come to see me, to say their investigations are being squashed; they are unable to carry out their investigations properly and have their evidence used properly."
She continued: "As I sit here, in years to come the truth will unfold. People who are really outspoken and really challenge government about the way they are doing things, especially in poor communities, are being silenced."
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office declined to make a comment on the allegations.

COMMENT FROM CAMILLA

Every year for nineteen years KIDS COMPANY has been audited just like all other charities. They were found to have no irregularities at all.

Hattiehelga...as I too have worked for a number of charities it was always expected by any funding groups that they would have a written report including a detailed financial report as to how their money had been used.

I would have expected the government at the time to have asked or been given one of these as a matter of course

Kids Company would have also been subjected to Annual Financial reports that should have been verified & scrutinised by Accountants & then sent on to Charities Commission. The bigger the charity so more scruitany takes place - bank statements & receipts are the norm.

Hope that helps?

I assume that when being scruitinised by the accountants irregularities showed uo

For nine years I ran a regional branch of a huge Broadcasting Childrens' Charity. At the end of twelve months all recipients of grants were obliged to submit a written report, supported where appropriate with receipts, showing that the money had been spent exactly for the purpose it was given. Instalments for three year grants were dependent on the previous year's report. In extreme cases of misuse we could claim a refund. The reports were significant in considering any future requests for money. This system was vital to ensure that money donated for the public was used in accordance with the Charity's established aims and to safeguard its integrity. If other Charities adopted this practice they would keep themselves credible and out of trouble.

In the first instance, it does not seem to have had a Reserves Policy. That requirement has been in place for a few years now.

Sometimes the auditors themselves have to be audited
www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/29/tesco-profits-scandal-accountancy-watchdog-suppliers-

I expect everything will come out.

I hope she is no more guilty than of not having a very good handle on financial matters.
And she may not even be guilty of that.

I spent time with a cousin a couple of evenings ago and she was describing what a poor state some of the children are in in London. She is the head something or the other of a big library in the centre of London and the poor frequent tnbe premises not to indulge their cu?rural ambitions but to get warm and advice.

She described how lice ridden and smelly so many of the children are and how much they depend on the children's charities for help since the local authorities have made so many cuts

Audits particularly end of year audits provide a snapshot of the company. It should be able to show if there was financial mismanagement, how else are the shareholders able to judge how the company is performing?

The first thing I would look at is the company end of year accounts before any further investigation.

Not sure if she had this or not.

www.gov.uk/charity-financial-reserves

As regards audits.
That is not the same as saying that there wasnt financial mismanagement. Audits are just one part of all things financial.

She speaks out about the austerity which is causing harm to our kids.
Yes they have nothing in the sixth richest country on the planet - our kids are forced to go to food banks and to get clothes handouts.
If you want to blame anyone for this awful awful mess then blame THE TORY GOVERNMENT

Odd that, because Kids' Company was also needed during the 13 years of Labour Government, and the Tories have only been back in power since May.

And Camila and David Cameron are apparently on excellent terms - that is odd too, then, if she denounces their policies.
Or perhaps that was just a pretence to keep the money rolling in.

I feel sorry for those 'kids' in genuine need and those conscientious employees who thought they were making a difference, now suddenly out of work.
The concept was excellent but it sounds as if some of the later policies were misguided and just plain wrong.

So it's I didn't know? I was always told you were responsible for what went on if you were in charge and you should make sure you knew what was happening.

Trisher. Listening to CB on newsnight last night Re the claims of sexual abuse, I took it to understand that she was referring to the person who made the claim on somebody else's behalf.
That person said that they had passed on this info to the relevant person. CB was denying that she had ever received this information. Not that there had ever been sexual abuse.

Hi Jean

Here's what the charity KIDS COMPANY does. It helps keep kids off the street. It supplies clothes and food to the most vulnerable. It provides education. It gives kids back their self esteem.

The demonisation of Camilla is because she speaks out. She speaks out about the appalling abuse suffered by kids in this country. She speaks out about the austerity which is causing harm to our kids. Charities are audited twice a year and Kids Company has passed these audits for over nineteen years. Camilla employs psychologists etc to help the kids with mental problems. Kids Company trains mentors to go into schools etc etc. They give food and clothing to kids who have nothing. Yes they have nothing in the sixth richest country on the planet - our kids are forced to go to food banks and to get clothes handouts.

Social Services has been decimated by this Tory government. Charities have had their funding cut back to the bone. If you want to blame anyone for this awful awful mess then blame THE TORY GOVERNMENT.

While you're all jumping on the bandwagon about Kids Company and Camilla just think how all this is taking the spotlight from the report and investigation into child abuse going over years and years in this country. Child abuse is endemic in this country and Camilla speaks up about it. Think about that please.

Trisher, I heard CB state that the reports of csa will be proved false and further, that in the many years kids company has been operational, she states there have been no cases. She disputed the claims of the young woman in the interview annodomini refers to and insisted had she been told, their child protection procedures would have been initiated. If the young woman is telling the truth, she claims to have a memo from CB stating the young man couldn't be suspended but that if the young woman went to the police, she'd be supported. Surely, some kind of strategy/planning meeting should have been initiated to discuss the allegations.

I appreciate we're hearing rumour currently but for the figure head of this charity, a trained psychotherapist as well, to be responding to the concerns as she is must raise concerns about the way the charity has been run.

For a highly trained psychotherapist her boundaries are questionable and not having boundaries when working in a therapeutic environment leads to unsafe practice - I think her arrogance and her need to be seen as an all rescuing mother got in the way of common sense and led to her downfall.

Just heard that CB has said she is sure all the reports of sexual abuse will be proved to be false. Completely shocked by this! Am I wrong or was this the attitude taken by the establishment years ago? As someone working with damaged children shouldn't she at least be acknowledging there is a possibility that something went wrong?

One young woman who was interviewed reported that as a teenager she was sexually assaulted by a client who was 26. I was surprised that young people were more or less allowed to be clients for such a long time. Surely this young man was, by this time, able to be self-supporting even if only on benefits. When she told staff about this situation they ignored her.

I have been appalled by the way CB has conducted herself since the scandal about KC broke. There has been no accountability on her part for what has happened to the charity and it seems that KC was also run without accountability. Prior to this I had assumed that the charity had been doing a good job but it is now clear that this is probably not the case. Apart from cash handouts, Xmas parties and warm meals I have no idea what KC does. CB keeps insisting she is mopping up cases of severe child neglect and abuse and that there is nowhere else for these young people to turn. This is clearly untrue and should be challenged by those organizations which do help young people and do some excellent work. In my view her thinking is unsound, her premises are shaky and CB could do with taking some time to reflect and take responsibility for what has happened.

I will repeat what I said earlier. An email from Michael Gove was read out on channel 4 news that the audit ( in May this year) was perfectly in order.

I think that what made Kids Company different from other charities was that help was available 24/7, so a kid with nowhere to go at 1am could and would be helped. If I am right, then KC did fulfil a need not met by other more conventional charities. However, once money is involved there has to be accountability. If Camilla B couldn't do it herself then the answer would have been to delegate the financial side.
As for being able to justify every action, I feel the need for caution here. I once taught in a secondary school where every lesson had to be planned and accounted for in minute detail. Creativity, I taught English, went out of the window and I can't say results improved.
Too much time spent on paperwork can mean the service you provide is not as good as it should be.