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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Kids Company documentary

54 replies

Curiocat · 03/02/2016 22:34

Wow. What a roller coaster / weird / car crash telly programme. I want to think Camilla was doing her best for the children but the whole paying rent for 30+year olds, school fees, chauffeurs and cash in envelopes use of funds does not sit right!

Anyone who knows more about this than me,Is it just propaganda?

OP posts:

ZedWoman · 04/02/2016 20:03

If Yentob thought that the financial management of the charity wasn't questionable, it raises very serious questions about the running of the BBC (runs for cover).

Roussette · 04/02/2016 20:39

Totally agree Zed. He thinks he has done nothing wrong.

hibbleddible · 04/02/2016 22:53

I've just seen this, and I'm shocked by Camilla. She comes across as mentally ill herself. I have no idea how she managed to run such a large charity for so long.

Paying private boarding school fees for select children also hardly seems a good value or equitable use of funds.

The whole culture of dependence that kids company created was very unhealthy.

It all made for very uncomfortable viewing.

building2016 · 04/02/2016 23:01

SunnyL - me too, I work in that sector. The amount of monitoring and reporting is absolutely huge and it is amazing that she somehow seems to have sidestepped that for years.

Haven't actually watched the programme, though.

whois · 04/02/2016 23:14

Great viewing, although I found the MN threads that were on here much more insightful, it was interesting to see her 'in the flesh' in those difficult times.

She existed for herself, surrounded herself with 'favourites' who she made entirely dependent on her, and in the end it was her affront at being asked to step aside that destroyed everything.

The bit near the end when she was discussing that driver and they were saying he is employed as a key worker "yes and we can prove that because I use another driver when I go to events" and the other guy is like "yes but let's not mention that because that's another £49,000"

Notgivingin789 · 05/02/2016 00:01

I have just watched the documentary.

I literally don't know what to say.

Notgivingin789 · 05/02/2016 00:13

It's so sad....the level of dependancy was ridiculous.

ephemeralfairy · 05/02/2016 01:22

'It's not a luxury pool...'

When she opened the door and said 'Go on darling...have a look!' it was like something out of a horror film. I thought 'no she's going to push you in and hold your head under...'

SunnyL · 05/02/2016 07:44

In my line of work the crudest form of testing whether a proposed intervention is value for money is cash ÷ beneficiaries.

Kids club was costing £500,000 a month for 3,000 "clients". That's 166 quid per person per month. Not too shabby really.

What I couldn't understand from the documentary what her criteria was for giving extra special help to some i.e the private school fees for that girl or the rent free existence (in a very lovely flat) for the 24 year of jamaican lady.

teawamutu · 05/02/2016 08:23

Sunny, I don't think the 3,000 clients claim has been proved at all.

Blu · 05/02/2016 08:39

And the £500,000 pcm was for part of the monthly salary roll.

Blu · 05/02/2016 08:40

I.e not the full expenditure of the charity at all.

BoboChic · 05/02/2016 09:57

Camila B was a self-styled deity, funded by the taxpayer. Absolutely incredible.

MackerelOfFact · 05/02/2016 10:24

It was a weird programme. It was if she saw herself as some kind of self-styled fairy godmother.

At the start when she was like 'Lynn, this here my problem! I have a Miss Piggy bag! People see I have a Miss Piggy bag and think I can't possibly run an organisation!' I was sitting there thinking 'It's fucking PEPPA PIG you twat, and no, your general weird attitude to everything is why people don't think you can run an organisation.'

I felt so sorry for poor Alice. How was paying her rent and letting her paint in the office helping her at all? She was bereft once the charity collapsed, she genuinely had nothing. No idea even when her rent was due. If they'd helped her to use her craft skills to generate an income and find accommodation that she could afford, THAT would have helped her. So strange.

I'm glad the school picked up the fees for the girl who was at boarding school though.

SunnyL · 05/02/2016 11:00

Yes it was clear there were victims when the charity closed but I certainly think her management of the charity made the loss even harder for some due to their dependency. I certainly didn't doubt the passion and dedication of the staff in the drop in centre.

MissBattleaxe · 05/02/2016 11:04

It was a slush fund and she played Lady Bountiful to favourites.

I couldn't understand how Alice could neither work not get benefits but when the rent on her plush London flat could not be paid, she could get benefits. The people who hurt the most were the ones where CB had lavished money on without encouraging them to find independence. She had made them totally dependent on her and then when they were cut off, she was showcasing them as victims.

The whole thing stank to high heaven.

I actually think the documentary could have been more hard hitting and could have asked her questions about her flaky background story.

Roussette · 05/02/2016 20:19

I finally watched the doc on iPlayer. Oh my goodness, she is quite bonkers isn't she. Never admitting anything wrong, never realising the writing is on the wall. She did her staff and the children a disservice.

Getting Alice to paint a few pots and pebbes was just bonkers. She wasn't being taught skills to take her forward, she was being taught dependence, poor woman, and all those years of being looked after. I wonder what Batman saw in certain people whereby you became her "favourite".

She really was an awful woman.

teawamutu · 06/02/2016 08:21

Watched it last night. Omg. Total disconnect from reality and a sizeable God complex.

What that money could have done in the hands of someone determined to help kids build life skills and careers...

ApplesAndPears1234 · 06/02/2016 12:49

Just place marking for later.

Flamingo1980 · 06/02/2016 12:58

I listened to her on desert island discs a few years ago (you can still download it) and I was utterly mesmerised and impressed by her. Her philosophy towards caring for abused kids was inspired and her approach fearless.
However I watched the documentary and was completely dismayed at her attitude. It seemed to me that she was clearly a hopeless and feckless 'business'woman - which is fair enough - but she should have recognised this and handed the reins over to someone who is competent at this sort of thing. She could have then stuck to what she knows and stayed in the company as a competent child behaviour specialist and all would have been well. It was her arrogant and controlling ways that led to the downfall of the company because she refused to see that she was incapable of doing her own job properly and wouldn't let anyone help or take over. Or even acknowledge the suggestions to change it.
What an absolute shame.

adidah · 06/02/2016 13:02

There is more to this story than it is letting g on..she knows something horrible and the establishment doesn't want her to speak. I believe this because she was in good relations with the establishment, to the point she can rock up and get money from he government. All of a sudden all the papers started to smear her as a person, as if she was so paedophile. This was constrasted with the support of the people from the community, those who worked with her, and those she had helped. I trust the people who knows her. She has been known to sell her house to pay for the running cost of the charity. She gave her time and love to the children and the family, which has been told by numerous people.

I don't know what she had found out, and why the establishment is going for her. But I don't trust the media to give us the full story and not having a agenda go discredit and distort this woman's work and nature.

Maudofallhopefulness · 06/02/2016 13:09

Adidah, there's probably something in that. I don't trust the press. There's something funny going on.

CB didn't do herself any favours. She's batshit and unprofessional but I believe she had her heart in the right place.

ComposHatComesBack · 06/02/2016 13:12

adidah Camilla, is that you?

PizzaConnoisseur · 06/02/2016 13:20

When you don't come from a deprived background where you have every obstacle against you succeeding in life, it's hard to understand what a difference a charity like KC could do for young lives.

When she started up, she was doing a good thing. There were virtually no organisations around in the mid to late 90's to help inner city children who were vulnerable. The problem is as someone said earlier, they expanded far beyond their capabilities and that was the beginning of the end.

I do think the success got to her head, but I don't think she is a nasty/bad person as some are making out. Her demise was accelerated by a horrible smear campaign which wasn't very nice to witness.

BadLad · 06/02/2016 13:42

it's hard to understand what a difference a charity like KC could do for young lives

Without the founder and staff pissing the donations up the wall on luxuries they could have done shitloads more for young lives.

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