to think Camila Batmanghelidjh must be lying when she says she has done nothing wrong in her spending of Kid's Company Charity Funding?

[LuluJakey1]

She is like Jimmy Saville in that what she has been doing has been under all of all our noses and we have refused to speak up about it or believe it.

It is not just the luvvies who have been up close and personal with her- involved with the charity and CB at a very close level, some even Trustees. It is also the employees and the parents of children, the children themselves, the volunteers. We are not talking about a hidden mis-use of funding. We are talking aout a whole culture of open waste and self-indulgence.

I know it is from The Daily Mail but it is actually an interview with het.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3199527/My-heart-clear-says-Kids-Company-boss-Batmanghelidjh-admits-charity-paid-school-fees-employees-children-denies-wrongdoing.html

£5000 a month rent on an Art Deco House with private swimming pool - which houses a member of staff, and the swimming pool is used by CB but hot by any children- they are 'not allowed' (her words)

£40,000 chauffeur- now a specialist worker (according to CB). also has private school and therapist funding for his 2 children.

Staff( how many?) have their children sent to private schools because the job is stressful and it is part of a 'staff well-being package'

The Chauffeur's sister is also employed - now as a 'brilliant accountant', last summer as 'the woman who does my sewing' (mind you that would be a full-time job in itself, but it does imply the charity pays for those vile outfits much as I suspected)

25 young people given £769,000 a year funding - £31,000 a year each, to do nothing. They are CB's specially selected young people- many of whom have received funding for many years. She describes them as 'like a family, hanging round the house'. She deals with their funding herself.

Yet STILL CB complains staff should not have spoken up about any of this and implies those who have will suffer for it.

In my view this woman and her behaviours are corrupt, dishonest and immoral.

Are my views unreasonable? I feel this could be jus the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is yet to emerge and prosecutions will be very likely.

I think there should be a down- to the -bone, in-depth investigation of every aspect of the work of this charity and of CB. Not simply any concerns that have now been raised but a complete trawl of the spending, the practices and the behaviours of CB herself.

I wondered about that, a very unusual spelling.

And she is very vague about her birthdate.

And she has a very strange and implausible story about her birth not being registered. Hmm....

Chilli CB said in one recent ish newspaper interview that her mother had died recently.

She also said her mums father was a paediatrician.

I am slightly surprised at people mocking her for saying neglect causes brain damage. She never did express it particularly well, but the theory of a link between early care (or the lack of it) and faulty brain development is a respectable one. This is from a govt website (www.childwelfare.gov):

One area that has been receiving increasing research attention involves the effects of abuse and neglect on the developing brain, especially during infancy and early childhood. Much of this research is providing biological explanations for what practitioners have long been describing in psychological, emotional, and behavioral terms. There is now scientific evidence of altered brain functioning as a result of early abuse and neglect. This emerging body of knowledge has many implications for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

I agree that it is unfortunate and rather beside the point for people to be picking holes in her accounts of her background, especially when it is from a position of ignorance. Like going on about 'Arabic' names when the names sound Iranian (Iranians aren't Arabs).

She did spout a lot of tosh in interviews, she really did. I am amazed no one investigated Kids Company before now.

And I know we should all stay off her appearance but someone described her as dressing like a West African woman. Trust me, she doesn't. Those outfits were a confection of her own devising (just had to stick up for West Africa there).

Born 2 1/2 moths prematurely, sent home not expected to survive;her father a very wealthy and eminent doctor, in 1960's Iran???

It's farcical and would be funny if she hadn't defrauded the government and countless benefactors out of millions.

I'm certain a long vacation courtesy of HMPS would soon " cure" her endocrine disorder.

I stand corrected, it's a Persian name. That's still a long way from fucking Belgium.

I do think we should try not to be too personal. However, she has made this whole KC thing about the cult of her personality by the way she behaves, her courting of the media and the luvvies and by her bizarre and attention- seeking appearance. She often refers to her childhood, her disabilities (her word), her family issues( mother, father, sister's suicide), her dyslexia, being a refugee, her endocrine problem et al.

Until recently, people have taken her at her word and empathised with her over all of it. They are now rightly questioning her as they realise she has been allowed to work outside of regulation and has not always bern scrupulously honest.

As lies and pale truths emerge, she will find herself under a high level of personal scrutiny. Let's hope she has been tellng the truth about all of that. Although, several lies have already emerged in relation to her education.

She us appearing as an increasingly eccentric and bizarre figure who weavs myths and scripts about herself and her work that she repeats over and over given any chance.

I couldn't give a toss what she wears but the fact that she spends charity money on the bizarre outfits is immoral. To have her own personal seamstress paid for (who happens to be the sister of her personall chauffeur) is self-indulgent and profligate.

My GP friend tells me a pituitary problem can be an initial cause of weight gan for a very few people but once addressed the weight reduces and it is only if someone overeats and does not exercise that they get into her state. I suspect that ,like much if what she says, there will be a kernal of truth that has become the myth and excuse.

She's just said endocrine and that covers a few things including PCOS which can cause weight gain.

I agree Lulu that the comments about her weight, appearance and dress are unnecessary, but the other stuff she's put out there to promote her image and it should bear scrutiny.

I don't know about her education but I did wonder if she was a qualified psychotherapist given that her terminology doesn't match that of someone in that field of expertise.

Like I mentioned before, I just assumed she was some odd bod who happened to make a lot of media appearances and talked a lot of clap trap, but was entertaining enough given her bizzare accent and flamboyant dress sense.

I stand corrected, it's a Persian name. That's still a long way from fucking Belgium.

I get that she's a bit of a fantasist, but why would you make up Belgium ancestry to make your back story more interesting. Pretending to be part Belgian would be like changing your name to Kevin Scroggins for showbiz purposes.
I don't know about her education but I did wonder if she was a qualified psychotherapist given that her terminology doesn't match that of someone in that field of expertise.

When the Ukip candidate Natasha Boulter made false claims that she had attended Cambridge, the university issued a statement that she'd never attended. If she was playing fast and loose about her qualifications would Warwick and Regent's college not have issued statements by now?

I think what is really interesting is the child rescue narratives she weaves and her use of hyperbole. They are so similar to the claims made by Thomas Barnardo and Benjamin Waugh of NSPCc in the nineteenth century, both of whom succeeded in creating similar stories around their own derring do.

Yes, Barnado used to rip children's clothes and make them pose for early publicity photos looking like grubby waifs in order to encourage donations. Parents complained about this at the time, apparently.

Aren't child psychotherapists supposed to be supervised in some way? I thought they had to have therapy themselves.

BoffinMum, I have heard reports that a large amount of KS money was spent providing external therapists for all the staff (regardless of their roles). I am assuming therefore that CB also received therapy.

I don't think we can assume that actually.

If she was conventionally trained and supervised I suspect she would be using different techniques and phraseology.

Maybe you are right. Perhaps she saw herself as the exception to the rule.

I'm also finding some of the more personal speculation quite icky. It's not like there aren't enough facts about the collapse of KC and CB's behaviour to scrutinise already without picking at her family history, accent, medical history with no real evidence to go on.

Bearing in mind the context of her becoming a media darling and feted by the great and good it is perfectly possible that a lot of the narrative about CB was either misappropriated or spun for the purposes of perpetuating the media image. How much of that was her own doing and how much of it by the media we don't know.

I think some on the thread are straying into the realms of fantasy themselves

I was just looking for Ofsted inspection reports of Kids Company settings (practically non-existent) and one thing struck me. Local authorities such as Lambeth (where I used to teach) have pretty much handed over family worker responsibilities to that organisation. Where I live now, however, local authorities fund them at individual schools, and they are much more accountable. Another thing. Kids Company appear to have had various contracts to run breakfast clubs and after school clubs in schools. However it's not clear if other organisations were allowed to tender to provide this service, and this may actually contravene procurement rules.

You gotta hand it to her, the woman built a brand so strong she nearly went two decades without anyone daring to point things like this out. She was also allowed to run an unregistered independent school despite this being supposedly a criminal offence (Urban Academy), bypass inspection, procurement and accountability mechanisms for a number of other settings, and get her magnificent stage costumes funded by the taxpayer and Coldplay. Way hay.

She has now left loads of schools without out of school care (Kids Company is still listed on a number of school websites) and as this happened in August, no chance to do anything about it before the new term. Presumably the local authorities will now have to rapidly find some new mechanisms for appointing replacement family workers as well.

This tells us why outsourcing responsibility for the vulnerable without a Plan B is a bloody stupid idea, frankly.

PS I would describe her 'confection' of a stage costume dress style as Nigerian Glam Rock (although Nigerian women wear better cut and more flattering styles in better prints).

Am I the only person to be disturbed by what appears to be a real sense of glee at her downfall among the commenters on this thread, with the number of expressions of concern about children being left unsupported being all too few?

Do we not all wish that this were not so? Would it not have been better if our suspicions about CB had proven unfounded?

I think some on the thread are straying into the realms of fantasy themselves

Yup. And now seems a good time to repeat the point I made upthread about people needing to take responsibility for their own ignorance.

By all means question. But if CB is making a claim that you find implausible and it relates to an aspect of life you know sod all about (eg birth registration in mid 20th century Iran, Arabic names) consider that the problem might not be her lying, but rather you not knowing what you're talking about. Or both, even. Also, the time to decide something about her such as her nationality is unimportant is before you post accusing her of lying with no evidence whatsoever. Not after.

This tells us why outsourcing responsibility for the vulnerable without a Plan B is a bloody stupid idea, frankly.

Also yup.

"Kids Company appear to have had various contracts to run breakfast clubs and after school clubs in schools."

This might explain why the 'number fed' does not match the 'number attending KC premises'.

And I doubt very much anyone feels "glee" about people suddenly left unsupported. But that has come about because CB closed KC precipitately, rather than using the new £3m to put the charity on a better footing. Also because it seems there were no reserves to keep enough ticking over for an adequate wind-down.

So a lot if not most of the childcare afterschool and other bits and pieces is SL were run by kids company ? So now there is no services running that is terrible stupid selfish egotistical woman has left the children she so cares about with nothing because she took a hissy fit.

muff I agree, up to a point.

In this case CB has used (versions) of her own back story as a rationale for her actions and either by accident or design allowed her to avoid scrutiny. She blurred the boundary between the personal and the professional. Therefore her background, dress style etc. becomes open to scrutiny

Oh i also said she reminded me of a Nigerian queen i wasnt slagging off nigerian womens clothing I was meaning she was trying to potray an image and thats what it reminded me of