Kids Club - Camilla Batmanghelijdjh

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. 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.

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.

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.

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

Not sure if she had this or not.

www.gov.uk/charity-financial-reserves

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

"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

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

The Independent.

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.

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.

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.

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.

spabbygirl I agree with a lot of what you say. I know we live in a society where the 'right trainers' matter to a child, and where deprived children don't get pocket money. Of course it would be nice to be able to provide those things to create a more equal society. Unfortunately, it does appear that KC may have lost sight of what was important and instead started to offer what was desirable.

All organisations have to work within their budget, wherever that money comes from. Staff salaries are crucial (as long as you have the right staff); providing shelters, food, therapeutic services for vulnerable children are all essential. Handing out pocket money and subsidising poor parents may be a nice thing to do and may make you and your charity popular but it's not wise when it empties the coffers and means your charity has to close. I'm afraid that blaming everyone else when this happens is not very wise either.

I don't believe everything I read in the papers, and I'm quite prepared to believe there may be more to this than we are being told. However, my views at the moment are formed from hearing what the users of this charity and CB herself have to say.

I am very saddened because it seemed such a great organisation. I think it is the difficulty you get when one charismatic person is in charge.
Maybe she would have been better had she just had one role - either hands on- or for publicity and fund raising.
I suspect the paper work was not in order which it has to be with that sort of money.

Bear in mind that newspapers won't print articles such as 'woman sits down and talks to child,' 'volunteer takes child to optician' they have to be eye catching so 'charity buys child posh trainers' it will have to be, but doubtless much of their work will have been the former, compensating for work the parent's should have done but don't.

Also, its no good saying an abused person should have counselling and giving them an appointment for 2 weeks time, I know from personal and professional experience that when trauma overwhelms you, you need to speak to someone there and then & these people often won't have family/friends that can help. That is the beauty of KC, they can respond quickly and in a way that is individual, no 2 young people are the same.

I think the charisma of its founder matters not a jot to their daily work. Its very useful to have someone who is articulate on these matters and can speak to big groups, the fact that she has first hand experience of these kids is only a benefit those listening, once you've heard their stories, its very difficult not to feel compassion for them. I once worked with a 15 yr old chap who stole his foster carers car and wrote it off, almost killing pedestrians in the process. He was in care cos his parents had gone to spain and left him with a disinterested neighbour. Before I met him I thought he would be awful. When I met him I sat and spoke to him, 'I know I did wrong,' he said, 'it was a bloody silly thing to do. But some money had been stolen from his foster carer's purse and I got the blame. And it wasn't me, it was their own son. And it hurt.'
Incidentally, after few months of sensible talking through issues with me, he gave the local police details of all the local drug dealers knowing it could cause him problems. Sometimes people just need setting on the right tracks.

spabbygirl. Do you have any actual experience of Kids Company?

Well the Chairman of the Trustees is adamant that all the paperwork, including the accounts, is absolutely in order. I don't know anything about the day-to-day working of KC, but it has always seemed to me to be doing a great job and I have donated sporadically in the past. They have worked with children who should have been cared for by parents, and for whom there is no other immediate provision. It looks as if donors, as soon as they saw a possible problem, withdrew donations. And, according to CB, lots of donors gave equipment, etc., rather than money. And the accusation of child abuse is 'interesting'. Several 'celebs' have been accused of the same and there has been absolutely no evidence against them. As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out - but I have to admit that I'm hoping for a 'not guilty' verdict!

Why is the government doling out this amount of money to needy kids in the London area. Theres needy kids all over the UK, although needy sometimes means they dont have an i phone.

Lizziemik On what do you base such a sweeping statement?