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The Guardian view on the fall of Kids Company: a social policy morality tale The Guardian view on the fall of Kids Company: a social policy morality tale
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There is no shortage of casualties or lessons in the spectacular implosion of the Kids Company charity. But nor can there be any disputing the immediate priority, as a charity that flew too close to the sun suddenly nose-dived to Earth on Wednesday. Kids Company’s services claimed to reach 36,000 vulnerable and deprived inner-city children and young people in London, Bristol and Liverpool. These lives and needs matter more than anything else, especially now. It is paramount that ministers, local authority services and third-sector groups in the three cities act together, in the short and long term, to protect as many of those involved as best they can. This will cost money. The money must be found. So, as Camila Batmanghelidjh might put it herself, must the love.There is no shortage of casualties or lessons in the spectacular implosion of the Kids Company charity. But nor can there be any disputing the immediate priority, as a charity that flew too close to the sun suddenly nose-dived to Earth on Wednesday. Kids Company’s services claimed to reach 36,000 vulnerable and deprived inner-city children and young people in London, Bristol and Liverpool. These lives and needs matter more than anything else, especially now. It is paramount that ministers, local authority services and third-sector groups in the three cities act together, in the short and long term, to protect as many of those involved as best they can. This will cost money. The money must be found. So, as Camila Batmanghelidjh might put it herself, must the love.
Kids Company’s rise and fall is a modern social policy morality tale. Ms Batmanghelidjh founded it in 1996 because she believed that family policies and social services were failing children who suffered from poverty, abuse or trauma – and often all three. The need was real, though her solutions were not always accepted uncritically. But her energy and charisma came at a decisive moment, as the election of New Labour brought a renewed government commitment to social and family policy aimed at the poor after the Thatcher years, alongside a ministerial thirst for new and if possible off-budget solutions. The times were right for Ms Batmanghelidjh and she was right for the times. Kids Company’s rise and fall is a modern social policy morality tale. Ms Batmanghelidjh founded it in 1996 because she believed that family policies and social services were failing children who suffered from poverty, abuse or trauma – and often all three. The need was real, though her solutions were not always accepted uncritically. But her energy and charisma came at a decisive moment, as the election of New Labour brought a renewed government commitment to social and family policy aimed at the poor after the Thatcher years, alongside a ministerial thirst for new and if possible off-budget solutions. The times were right for Ms Batmanghelidjh and she was right for the times.
Related: Kids Company’s demise speaks volumes about how Britain is run | Letters
Whether Kids Company actually provided the approach, range and consistency of necessary provision for troubled kids that they needed has often been a matter of argument. Doubtless those arguments will now intensify, as they should, for lessons certainly need to be learned from a dramatic and important saga. But there is no doubt that the charity prospered through the millennium years, was felt to supply a need about which too little had been recognised or done in the past, and that it appealed to a view of social policy that chimed with the governing mood of the time, which was sceptical, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, about the cost, efficiency and effectiveness of local social services.Whether Kids Company actually provided the approach, range and consistency of necessary provision for troubled kids that they needed has often been a matter of argument. Doubtless those arguments will now intensify, as they should, for lessons certainly need to be learned from a dramatic and important saga. But there is no doubt that the charity prospered through the millennium years, was felt to supply a need about which too little had been recognised or done in the past, and that it appealed to a view of social policy that chimed with the governing mood of the time, which was sceptical, sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly, about the cost, efficiency and effectiveness of local social services.
The irresistible force of the need for government to deliver and be accountable has come increasingly into conflict with the immovable object of Kids Company’s high-profile founder and chief executive. Yet as officials grew more sceptical about Ms Batmanghelidjh’s management and record, senior politicians – though not those on the frontline of children’s policy – remained in awe. Both Labour and Conservative prime ministers got more from associating themselves with Ms Batmanghelidjh than from challenging an icon. In the end, weeks ago, ministers again overruled the explicit doubts of their officials to attempt one final bailout. But it was too little and too late.The irresistible force of the need for government to deliver and be accountable has come increasingly into conflict with the immovable object of Kids Company’s high-profile founder and chief executive. Yet as officials grew more sceptical about Ms Batmanghelidjh’s management and record, senior politicians – though not those on the frontline of children’s policy – remained in awe. Both Labour and Conservative prime ministers got more from associating themselves with Ms Batmanghelidjh than from challenging an icon. In the end, weeks ago, ministers again overruled the explicit doubts of their officials to attempt one final bailout. But it was too little and too late.
The lessons of the whole Batmanghelidjh story may not have ended yet. They are personal, political and strategic. In the end, they pose the question of how accountability works when the state subcontracts essential social services to charities which it funds with public money but does not control. There is more to the Kids Company drama than the personal allure of Ms Batmanghelidjh. But the biggest tragedy remains the children, who will still need the same support and care today as they did yesterday. Related: The Guardian view on charity trustees: no role for amateurs | Editorial
The lessons of the whole Batmanghelidjh story may not have ended yet. They are personal, political and strategic. In the end, they pose the question of how accountability works when the state subcontracts essential social services to charities which it funds with public money but does not control. There is more to the Kids Company drama than the personal allure of Ms Batmanghelidjh. But the biggest tragedy remains the children, who will still need the same support and care today as they did yesterday.