kids company closure on news

[stringvest]

I don't know the ins and out of this closure, I am not very interested really. However on the news there were protests against the closure. Some had a painted banner declaring ... "Kids Company is ARE family, not just a company" .... I presumed they meant "Our", but of the all the adults on the march, helping with preparations for the march, wanting to get their message out there .... no-one saw that it was wrong or bothered to correct it ???? English lessons not part of the activities there ????

Kings College Hospital A&E posters now removed "Are you Vitamin D sufficient? If you are sufficient it can cause problems such as Rickets, you can get free supplements from pharmacies if you are sufficient" These had been typed, printed in colour, laminated and posted around the A&E, even in the toilets ... why did it take a patient (my good self :-)) to explain to several members of staff, the difference between a deficiency and a sufficiency ????? and that it wasn't corrected earlier ??

[numbers]

You should really have posted this in the thread for charities that have closed, dontcha know?

[stringvest]

I didn't know there was one. That's me ticked off again !!

[poppet27]

The Evening Standard had a pretty good article about this today. Sam Leith was the name of the columnist I think

[numbers]

No, no, no!!! No ticking off, was joking...knew I should have used a smiley face ;)

I disagree tho with Mick Mac who was up in arms about confining certain subjects to a particular thread. For RIP ones I think the chapel of rest works pretty well incidentally.

[ratty]

"The Evening Standard had a pretty good article about this today. Sam Leith was the name of the columnist I think

"

What was the jist of it? Most professionals I know are glad to see the back of this dangerously self publicising charity. As am I!

[ianr]

> What was the jist of it?

Concluding para: "It seems to me that the rise and fall of Kids Company makes an extremely eloquent case that social provision for vulnerable youngsters is far, far too important to be left to private philanthropy, subcontracted to charismatic eccentrics, or used as the basis for an ideological experiment in Burkean conservatism. It?s sad Kids Company has collapsed. It?s sadder still that it had to exist in the first place." http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/sam-leith-lessons-for-the-tories-of-the-kids-company-collapse-a2414676.html

[stringvest]

Agree with above, and also it's sad they writ out there banner wrong :-) !!!

[JohnL]

stringvest Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Agree with above, and also it's sad they writ out

> there banner wrong :-) !!!

I'm used to the wrong words being used - especially

in London. I just read it as they meant it to be

read.

[binkylilyput]

ratty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "The Evening Standard had a pretty good article

> about this today. Sam Leith was the name of the

> columnist I think

> "

>

> What was the jist of it? Most professionals I know

> are glad to see the back of this dangerously self

> publicising charity. As am I!

Dangerously self publicising? Isn't that what charities do?

I'm not sure which professionals are pleased to see Kids Company go. Certainly not the many, many professionals that I work directly with and encounter daily in my job working with exactly the same vulnerable young people that KC supported.

I am not sure whether this post is about the terribly sad and worrying closure of a children's charity or about poor spelling/ grammar.

Either way, I also find it very frustrating that the public still believe the sensational rubbish and punchy headlines that they read in newspapers and don't get to learn the facts or hear from the people who either worked for KC, alongside them or from the families supported by them.

As I said, these kids are my job. I am genuinely shocked and saddened that poor grammar is considered to be the important thing to discuss here

[edhistory]

Is there any evidence that "Kids Company" has closed?

[Loz]

Well, their website says it has, and the closure has been widely reported in the news. There was some talk of restructuring and re-opening, but that seems to be passing.

[stringvest]

My original post was the bad use of English "Kids company is ARE family" and all the people that let this get paraded and on the news etc. Obviously I am no wordsmith myself. But like the Kings Vitamin D "sufficiency" (instead of deficiency) ... it was allowed OUT THERE.

As an ex-typist with spells of proof reading, I find it annoying at worse and a sad reflection of current standards at best.

It can also been seen on TV, when they give what you are watching a permanent on screen title "Why did my mother STEEL from me?" That's those meja studies ... :-(

[binkylilyput]

I agree that shabby spelling can irritate

BUT

Perhaps change the subject of your post so that it reflects that it is about poor spelling and grammar.

Then use an example that doesn't include children and young people (many of whom have indeed received little education for various reasons)who are bravely and gallantly protesting about the loss of an organisation that provided them with the care and support they need to thrive despite poverty, trauma, neglect, deprivation, violence etc.

An organisation that, for many of them, provided the very education and schooling that you suggest is missing!

[Earl Aelfheah]

Agree Bikylilyput. It's really sad that Kid's Company has closed. There are a lot of kids who saw it as a lifeline.

[edhistory]

binkylilyput Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> the loss of an organisation that provided them with

> the care and support they need to thrive despite

> poverty, trauma, neglect, deprivation, violence etc.

Have Southwark Social Services found any?

[ratty]

Last client my wife had from there was in their 30s. Appropriate?

From what I have heard there is more to come bout this. Had contact from some journalists who seem to be on a specific trail.

[stringvest]

Blinkylilyput wrote

"Then use an example that doesn't include children and young people (many of whom have indeed received little education for various reasons)who are bravely and gallantly protesting about the loss of an organisation that provided them with the care and support they need to thrive despite poverty, trauma, neglect, deprivation, violence etc"

I understand, but the children didn't get the sheets and placards and paint them all by themselves - they were helped by their appropriate adults ... who cannot spell ??? It says something.

As do people in charge of health matters who cannot differentiate between sufficient and deficient.

"poverty, trauma, neglect, deprivation, violence etc" been there !!!

Thanks.

[LadyDeliah]

We started doing pro-bono immigration work for some of the Kids Company clients and the contact we had with their staff showed they were a dedicated group of people trying to help the most disadvantaged kids in the UK in very practical ways.

If they failed in some parts, attacking them in the media and forcing their closure was the wrong way to fix whatever failings there may have been.

The lifeline they provided was genuinely needed and the gap in provision will be felt enormously.

[Blah Blah]

I think it does raise the issue of whether we want to genuinely provide decent quality of life for all or whether we continue to push some matters into the hands of privately run charities. Most charities start with committed people determined to change something for the better, but why does that still remain the case in 2015?

I agree that failings can be fixed with a change in management. The closure of yet another lifeline for those it helped is just indicative of the way we are going as a government and society.

[edhistory]

Has it closed yet?

[ratty]

Yep

[edhistory]

Are you sure?

I know it has ceased processing clients and made some staff redundant.

Do you have any local information about the adverse affect on the Sherbourne Trust charity that owns the Kids Company premises?

John K

[ratty]

Was discussing with someone from Brent Council CYP the other day about the affects of closure. Other than that I know very little. Sorry.

[edhistory]

Thanks, ratty.

I'm not sure that many people not working in the thirs sector appreciate the potential collateral damage.

Anyone interested can start here:

http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1031238&SubsidiaryNumber=0

John K