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Kids Company a political 'football' | Kids Company a political 'football' |
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Kids Company has become "a football for the media and the civil servants", the charity's founder has said. | Kids Company has become "a football for the media and the civil servants", the charity's founder has said. |
Camila Batmanghelidjh told the BBC the charity had run out of money because the government had not taken responsibility for child protection. | Camila Batmanghelidjh told the BBC the charity had run out of money because the government had not taken responsibility for child protection. |
Kids Company closed on Wednesday after ministers said they wanted to recover a £3m grant given to the charity. | Kids Company closed on Wednesday after ministers said they wanted to recover a £3m grant given to the charity. |
The Cabinet Office said it believed conditions attached to the use of the money had not been met. | The Cabinet Office said it believed conditions attached to the use of the money had not been met. |
Ms Batmanghelidjh told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Kids Company had been subjected to a "trial by media" based on "rumours and conjectures". | |
She said the media and civil servants using the charity as a "football" had been "so destructive" to the children it cared for. | |
What did Kids Company do? | |
It provided services including counselling, walk-in centres with hot meals and help with housing and healthcare for children and young people whose parents were often unable to care for them. | |
It had branches in London, Bristol and Liverpool, employed 650 people. | |
How did the controversy start? | |
Asked if Kids Company's finances could have been run more efficiently, Ms Batmanghelidjh said: "Our problem is not the efficiency of our financial systems, it's our lack of funding." | Asked if Kids Company's finances could have been run more efficiently, Ms Batmanghelidjh said: "Our problem is not the efficiency of our financial systems, it's our lack of funding." |
She said the charity had passed every audit in its 19-year history "without trouble" and had never received a "single letter" from the government criticising the way it operated. | |
Ms Batmanghelidjh accepted Kids Company had a "hand to mouth existence", but said it was struggling to cope with the number of children "pouring through our doors" and "self-referring off the street". | |
"It's not about bad management on our part, it's about trying to sort out something that society isn't dealing with," she said. | |
Ms Batmanghelidjh previously told the BBC a donor withdrew an offer of £3m after finding out Scotland Yard's child abuse unit was investigating the charity. | |
Last week the Metropolitan Police opened an investigation into serious allegations that details of incidents involving young people who used the charity were not passed to police. | |
The charity said it always met its obligations to report crimes. |