Kids Club - Camilla Batmanghelijdjh

I'm sorry, absentgrandma but I don't recall ever responding to one of your posts before, never mind consistently feeling the need to 'have a pop' at you.

I agree, Ana. I'm amazed how many people apologise for mentioning articles in the DM when they've obviously read them.

Sorry ana, I read it online every day so I have the right to feel
like a social pariah according to the left-wing dept of this forum. . Why do you consistently feel the need to have a pop at me?? You don't even know me, so how come?

Oh dear, is it absolutely necessary to sneer at the DM even while recommending an article printed in it?

There's quite a good article by Harriet Sergeant in the DM (yes,I know the journalistic standard leaves a lot to be desired but this is worth reading). It sort of puts the whole debacle in perspective. The best/kindest thing one could say about KC is that they were incredibly naive. ....or maybe not, when you see the toytown figures being bandied about. Taken for fools, or something more disturbing?

Yes, what exactly did this charity do for children. I would be very interested to know. Does anyone know?. And why exactly is it being closed down. Was there financial wrong doing, abuse. There doesn't seem to be a statement from anyone stating the reasons for the closure.

I heard CB on Victoria Derbyshire this morning and as like so many on this thread I've had grave doubts about this organisation for several years (even though I no longer live or pay tax in the Uk). Despite this I was gob-smacked to hear a mum who was a KC supporter, having had a huge amount of help from them, state that when her son refused to go to school because he hadn't got the right brand of trainers KC gave her cash (!!!) to buy some, and at Christmas KC hired 3 venues (can't remember which ones they were but they were top notch London sites) for Christmas lunch.... and KC provided CABS to take them there, and one presumes , drive them and their Mums and Dads home again. What happened to mini-buses to pick up from designated stops?? It seems to me KC and the egotistical Camilla have been spending money like drunken sailors on a night in port. To the detriment of other charities I might add.

Yes, charities have a core of paid workers. Volunteers come and go, and take their abilities with them, but permanent workers provide the continuity and specific skills. There are many roles which can only be done by those qualified and experienced in certain subjects.

The charity I volunteered with employed administrators and chartered physiotherapists, for example, but there were also volunteers who gave their experience part-time with other therapies, or with unskilled tasks, and students getting practical experience by volunteering in their free time. Relying on the volunteers totally would not have given the continuity of service and treatment needed.

Where were the auditors in all this? How could they just repeatedly hand out money in envelopes without recording how much and where it went?

I used to be on the committee of a smallish local charity, and their accounts had to audited every year and signed off. The auditors asked detailed questions about what happened to money raised by fundraisers and whether it was counted and signed for by two separate people, and spending and queried any regular payments that were not clearly accounted for. Our auditors stopped the payment of weekly taxi fares to a disabled volunteer, which they said were the equivalent of adding another paid worker.

I too have been quite shocked by Camila's emotional responses janea. I understand that she will be very upset, but she is completely irrational and clearly doesn't accept that she has had any part to play in this. The more air time she is given, the more she is confirming where it all went wrong.

Did anyone else watch Victoria Derbyshire this morning? There were service users on there defending her and the organisation. Again, I could understand that they were upset but they clearly had no understanding of where things had gone wrong. Cash given to parents for 'the right trainers' so that a child would go to school. Taxis to and from the Christmas party 'because it's Christmas'. The parent who was speaking lost me completely when she said 'David Cameron is as bad as all these people that abuse children for what he's done to Kid's Company'. I may not be DC's biggest fan but that was outrageous.

I was a salaried worker for a national children's charity for a number of years. All staff were expected to attend Child Protection ad Vulnerable Adult training, no matter their role, and put their learning into practice. The children and families were the first priority, all actions were monitored and individuals accountable for both behaviour, standards and financial appropriateness. I have great concern for any charity - no matter the focus - that operates in any other way. Time and further exploration will tell if there was proven inappropriateness. I understand the organisation had a number of centres in the UK, perhaps not all ran the same way and there would have been many caring staff who are struggling with what is coming to light. I imagine it was a difficult environment to raise any concerns, not an excuse but perhaps helps understand how it got to the point that it did?

I always felt uneasy about this charity and the CEO in particular.

Elayne Of course they pay their staff. All child welfare charities have to employ qualified people. If you need counsellors and therapy session workers you do not get qualified staff for free.
A lot of this work is far too specialised to leave to amateurs.

The NSPPC helpline has sites in several parts of the UK they have to pay the people who monitor the phones and the qualified advisors.

I think all charities have to have some salaried staff elayne.
The point John Humphreys made was that any prudent business or charity would have at least 3 months-worth of salaries stashed away as a contingency fund, so that employees could be paid.
At Kids Company there was nothing in the bank account and that's why the £3million bail out last week had to be used in part to pay staff salaries.

Call me cynical, but listening to Camilla b's emotional, volatile responses and her total lack of regret, I wouldn't put her in charge of a hen-house.

I feel very uneasy about a charity that uses the money to pay the staff - this is NOT what it was meant for!

I switched on after reading janea's post but missed most of it unfortunately. Child protection is the remit of every one in society. If you set up a charity aimed at supporting vulnerable, excluded and disaffected young people, child protection has to be central as they're the very young people most at risk of sexual exploitation (to name one risk they live with daily)

Saying child protection wasn't their remit and she wanted government and ministers to come and sort out the children pouring through their doors with multiple problems.

She's talking to John Humphreys now on R4

I often wondered what this charity did - assumed my education was missing something. Thank you go the link to the article. Jean.

absentgrandma is right to question why so much public money has been poured into an organisation that appears to have seen itself as so alternative it didn't need to be accountable. The argument made by one of its workers on channel 4 news just now, was that it was chaotic, because it was responding to young people with chaotic lifestyles.

Luckygirl's post about the cult of personality is so relevant to this discussion, as is her comparison with the way in which no one appears to have felt able to challenge Jimmy Saville. I'm not suggesting Camilla B is in the same category as JS, other than in her somewhat maverick presentation, which seemed to dare people to challenge her approach.

Chaotic individuals/young people like the one's Kids Company aimed to support don't need their chaos to be mirrored by those attempting to help them. They need to be provided with stable role models, workers who do what they say they'll do, keep appointments made etc rather than reacting to every demand made by an unstable young person.

I heard her too, janea. I found the information given by the first woman who spoke (can't remember her name, but she was an author who had had misgivings about the organisation some years ago) quite disturbing. Especially the 'money in envelopes' allegation.

I agree Jane, and it was what I would have expected to hear from her.I hope it all comes out in the open now about the alleged waste and wrongdoing amongst the management .

I heard Camilla Batmangelhijdjh on the radio, blaming everyone but herself - ministers, government, scaremongerers etc.
Says it all, really.

I imagine that we will never know the full details - we will hear the views of either side, who will defend their decisions. But, accountability and proper scrutiny are vital. If this organisation was not doing its job, then it is right that it should close.

The cult of personality has no place in these organisations - we know that from Jimmy Saville. no-one felt able to challenge him, and there seems to have been a similar scenario here.

3million last week was handed over by this government - they are closing next.