THE FOUNDER of charity the Kids Company has died aged 61.
Camila Batmanghelidjh passed away “peacefully in her sleep” surrounded by her family after celebrating her birthday.
Handout
Camila had just celebrated her birthday before she diedPA:Press Association
It came after a long health battle, but Camila is understood to have “rallied” in recent months.
In a statement released to the Guardian, her family said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Camila Batmanghelidjh announce her passing.
“She died peacefully in her sleep the night of 1 January, following a birthday celebration with her family.
“Camila dedicated her life to advocating for Britain’s most vulnerable children.
“She was the founder of two groundbreaking charities, Place2Be and Kids Company, which pioneered new therapeutic and clinical models to achieve a singular goal: ‘To see children and young people become safe and able to realise their potential’.”
Camila was born in Iran in 1963, the third of four children to a doctor dad and his Belgian wife.
She went to school in Dorset before getting a first class degree in Theatre and the Dramatic Arts from the University of Warwick
In 1991 she set up a programme for troubled primary school kids called The Place to Be, and later founded Kids Company.
She aimed to provide youngsters affected by poverty, abuse, trauma and gang violence.
It was originally set up as a drop-in centre, and expanded to reach over 40 schools in London and Bristol.
Camila’s work – which used her training in psychotherapy – saw her raise tens of thousands for vulnerable youngsters, and granted her the nickname the ‘Angel of Peckham’.
She was appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to kids and young people.
But the charity swallowed up more than £42million in public funding across 19 years before collapsing in 2015 after being handed £7.3m in the five months before it folded by Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin.
This included an emergency £3million of taxpayer funding bailout in a final attempt to keep it afloat.
The charity shut amid allegations of financial mismanagement, which included Camila being blasted by MPs for providing luxury spa breaks and giving envelopes of cash to individual children.
In August 2017 it was announced that Camila faced six year bans from running companies following the charity’s collapse.
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