Camila Batmanghelidjh, who created the legendary Kids Company children’s charity and became one of the UK’s best known and most powerful campaigners for disadvantaged youngsters, has died aged 61.
Batmanghelidjh – known for her charisma, colourful attire and outspoken pursuit of social justice for children – had been ill for many months, though she rallied in recent weeks. She died peacefully on New Year’s Day, having celebrated her birthday with family and friends.
In a statement, 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.’”
Alan Yentob, the broadcaster and former chair of Kids Company, who worked closely with Batmanghelidjh over many years, said: “All of us who worked with Camila are devastated by this news, as will be the thousands of children whose lives were transformed by her work. She will be sorely missed.”
Born in Iran and educated in the UK, Batmanghelidjh rose to prominence after setting up Kids Company in south London in the late 1990s to provide support for youngsters scarred by poverty, abuse, trauma and gang violence, and who had fallen through the gaps of social services and NHS services.
Her work, informed by her training in psychotherapy, caught the imagination of the public, politicians and celebrities, and she raised tens of millions of pounds from donors to fund the charity’s groundbreaking therapeutic work with tens of thousands of children.
At the height of her celebrity in the mid-2000s she was given the nickname the “Angel of Peckham” by the media. She had the ear of Labour and Conservative prime ministers alike, attracted the support of pop stars and artists, and was known as an distinctive advocate for children’s rights and child protection reform.
In 2015, Batmanghelidjh and the charity’s trustees closed Kids Company after its growing financial troubles were exacerbated by a BBC report claiming sexual abuse had taken place at the charity. This triggered a public and media backlash. Police subsequently investigated the allegations, and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
For months she was vilified in parts of the media, despite protesting her innocence, an extraordinary reversal of her earlier popularity with the press.
The official receiver launched a high-profile and expensive attempt to ban her from holding senior roles in public life, finally culminating in a 10-week court case in 2021.
The high court exonerated Batmanghelidjh, and rejected the claim that Kids Company had been mismanaged and charitable funds misspent. The judge praised her for the “enormous dedication she showed to vulnerable young people over many years” and her achievement in building a successful charity that did “incredible work”.
Batmanghelidjh was outraged by a subsequent Charity Commission report into the collapse of Kids Company, which claimed the charity had been administratively mismanaged. A year ago she won permission to go to the high court to try to overturn the report but ill-health meant she could not progress her case.
During the years after Kids Company, Batmanghelidjh carried on her work below the public radar from her small flat in West Hampstead, helping vulnerable children, advising schools, and staying in touch with many former staff and “graduates” of Kids Company.
Her family’s statement added: “Working alongside her devoted colleagues and dedicated volunteers and donors, Camila changed the lives of tens of thousands of children and young people in London and Bristol otherwise neglected by a failing child protection system. She showed these children that they were worthy of love and support.
“For all those around her, and especially for her family, she was endless source of inspiration, a fountain of wit, and a kaleidoscope of colour.”
The Rev Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis academy trust, which worked with Batmanghelidjh post-Kids Company, said she had been an inspiration, adding: “In the work she did with traumatised and disadvantaged kids at Oasis, the depth of her wisdom and her sheer love of children shone out.”
