Anyone watching this Kids Company documentary?

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

Looks interesting.

The parliamentary hearings linked to on the original threads are fascinating - fully explaining how the accounting side/audits worked.

fastdaytears - it's already on iplayer.

Suffice to say that various auditors had been saying for years that KC needed to build cash reserves but they never did.

Thank you MrsJamin just Sky being silly then. I'll try again in a bit. Sounds really interesting but sad.

I worked in childrens public health a few years ago right in the KC stomping ground. It was well known by everyone that there were extremely dodgy things going on there and we were reluctant to refer clients or work with them.

KC had 2 Financial Directors within a year, why the Trustees didn't think this was a huge problem is beyond me.

Sorry. I started a thread about this. I'll ask for mine to be deleted.

And her response to the news re the chauffeur children's school fees seemed to be along the lines of- he's not actually just my chauffeur, he does other stuff too. In fact we spend another 30-40 grand on other chauffeur services. But, erm don't mention that.

She's an egomaniac. Success in a charity like that should be the clients no longer needing your services, not becoming dependent on you. The fact that most of the workers were white and the clients black also made me uncomfortable.

There was a good article by Lee Jasper on this yesterday - will see if I can find the link

Lynda I noticed that race difference between staff and clients, it was very obvious wasn't it?
Another thing that struck me was the fact that she let Lynn film when it was all going wrong and she was having crisis pr meetings, camila didn't hold back or shoo them out, she really thought she was doing no wrong, or perhaps if she talked about loving the kids enough, she'd be forgiven anything. Her relationship with the 34 year old woman was very telling. It was co-dependent in a dreadful way. Camila loved being doted on, and the adoration. She didn't seek for the woman's independence.

That poor woman was so vulnerable. I agree that she was being treated like a pet project rather than being helped to become more independent.

The key line in the program for me was in the voiceover - 'its like one big happy family , with Camilla as the mother'. She reminded me of an engulfing mother - more focused on her own needs than the needs of the children, and desperately needing their adoration and dependence at all times. I kept thinking about cult leaders too. I found the program very disturbing and agree with others that I'm not very much clearer about what went on at KC than I was before.

Here's the Lee Jasper article: leejasper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/kids-company-white-privilege-personified.html

I think the trustees are as much to blame. Why didn't they force her resignation before the press got hold of the story?

If they had made her accept the govts offer for her to be a Childrens' Ambassador, the charity would have probably survived.

Despite everyone's protests, it was ALL about her, rather than the children.

Good point in the Lee Jasper article that the board was all white (plus Camila who was Iranian) in an area and serving a community that was predominantly black.

It's not just the board, it's the whole team. When they were all gathered in that room cheering Camila, nearly all those faces were white. That narrative of saving the poor black people (from themselves and one another) seemed to be a real undercurrent in their thinking.

Without us, they will riot, commit arson and descend into savagery. I'm paraphrasing Yentob but how can those kind of statements that he came out with when KC closed be read as anything other than racist?

I hadnt heard of KC before all of this started happening.

Watching the tv programme it just seemed like a company that didnt try and solve problems it just threw money at them. That very rarely works.

I also noticed that the vast majority of the clients were black. Interesting that the women who had the daughter who had the school fees paid was one of 6 in a small flat. There seemed no trace of the fathers and no real male role models.

Why is it seen as OK to have many children without thinking about the financials and have no men as part of the family. In fact there was a absence of men completely!

Until we change that way of thinking I don't think anything much will happen.

I have just read the lee jasper article posted by lyndanotlinda which is so insightful. I have many issues with this programme 1. How did kc get away with having no reserves. I used to be a trustee for a small charity one of our main concerns was having sufficient reserves which is essential for any charity (the charity commission can and do shut charities down if there are insufficient reserves) did the charity commission just turn a blind eye or were the trustees lying in either case the trustees should be prevented from being in charge of anything again or people in the charity commission who allowed this should be sacked. 2. Early on in the documentary anybody could see that there was mismanagement again why didn't the trustees do something about it. If it was so obvious to outsiders why wasn't obvious to the trustees.

1. From an ethical point of view is it really a good idea to give people money to make up for the fact that they are disadvantaged. Where were the checks to ensure that the money was going to the dc. Also the young woman who was sent to boarding school surely this will cause divisions within her family between her and her other siblings. Equally the lady whose rent was being paid how was this helping her to live an independent life. I agree with many pp this was particularly uncomfortable viewing. 4. Why did a driver's children need to be funded to attend private school surely the fact that their dad was in full time employment underlines the fact that these dc were not disadvantaged compared to others.

I think Shoes has said it all. She seemed to think it was HER money and she could do what she liked.

Even at the end she honestly didn't see what she had done wrong (and not in a good way).

I heard the filmmaker being interviewed on Womans Hour and it was so one sided. The whole thing was about how wonderful Camilla is, how she tried so hard to help people and none of the downfall was her fault.

I was quite angry as the BBC is supposed to be balanced and usually Womans Hour is very good at giving air time to opposing views.

It was very clear that the filmmaker was motivated to make Camilla look as good as possible.

And my DH was raging at the whole Miss Piggy/Peppa Pig thing.

It never looks good when you hear about cash filled envelopes being given to vulnerable teenagers......then later hear whispers of abuse.

I did question whether it was a hate campaign by the Government.....OR were those teenagers being paid hush money for being abused?

The docs said that nothing ever came of the allegations. Is that because there were no real allegations or because the teens were paid off again?

I was curious as to why Camilla was so obsessed/focused on one or two particular teenagers (now adults). It looked like she was primarily in charge of deciding which teenagers got the help. It didn't look like any kind of auditing or checks were carried out to assess needs (compared to another teenager who DIDN'T get as much help).

I did feel sorry for that woman who has no idea how to get a life for herself and has become TOTALLY dependent on the charity. How has that woman been helped??

I don't trust anyone who doesn't audit taxpayers money, especially such a large amount of money.

If I could be bothered, it would be fascinating to learn about Camilla's background and upbringing. It may shed light on her behaviour, which although philanthropic, was spending OUR money without feeling it necessary to audit.

I need to watch this. I've been following the threads for ages. I find her very odd.

The whole thing is weird - is there a transcript or video of the hearings. I'd like to see those as the documentary didn't shock me as much as I thought it would.