Southwark-based charity Kids Company was successful in their bid for £100,000 from USTSC to provide accommodation for young people in Southwark. .
Kids Company was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996. Its aim is to provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people. The support it offers is tailored to the needs of each individual. No matter how disturbed a child is, they will never be turned away. Kids Company operates through 2 street level centres, as well as working in over 30 schools. Most of the 12,000 children who access its interventions present with severe emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, resulting from significant experiences of trauma and neglect. Many are ‘lone children’ living in chronic deprivation, with limited or no support from the adults in their family. Often they live in areas where social work departments are at breaking point, schools are not able to meet their complex needs and mental health clinics do not have the capacity to accommodate them. Over 95% of the children Kids Company supports refer themselves to its services, or are referred by their peers. In 2007 Kids Company was awarded the Liberty and Justice Human Rights Award. For more info, see: www.kidsco.org.uk
