The Kids Company legacy

All the headlines about Kids Company’s demise this week made me go back to the now famous ‘hug a hoodie’ speech that David Cameron made when he was leader of the opposition in 2006. The Prime Minister spoke in a way that at the time was not to be expected from a Conservative leader.

He said: "So when you see a child walking down the road, hoodie up, head down, moody, swaggering, dominating the pavement - think what has brought that child to that moment.

"If the first thing we have to do is understand what's gone wrong, the second thing is to realise that putting things right is not just about law enforcement.

"It's about the quality of the work we do with young people.

"It's about relationships.

"It's about trust.

"Above all, it's about emotion and emotional development."

This focus on understanding young people and their emotions was somewhat of a watershed moment for those, like me, who had been making the case for taking children out of the criminal justice system and adopting a more therapeutic approach.

And it was a sharp divergence from the then Labour government who had been taking a tough ‘no excuses’ approach to youth crime and presided over a record rise in the number of children in custody .

It’s important to acknowledge that Cameron’s speech was very much influenced by the work of Kids Company and Camilla Bhatmanghelidj’s engagement with senior Conservative party advisors and politicians. The then leader of the opposition even referenced her book, Shattered Lives, in his speech.

Now that Kids Company has closed it’s easy to forget the influence on political thinking about challenging  children and young people that the organisation’s work has had. There may well be questions about the operations of the organisation but it certainly has had a positive impact on influencing politicians of all colours to condemn a little less and understand a little more the behaviour of deeply troubled children.

I fear now that there could be a backlash against this view and the alternative tough, harsh punishment view could take hold again as questions are asked about the Kids Company approach.

Whatever the investigations into Kids Company conclude they should not be taken to disprove or rubbish the more child centred therapeutic approach focused on emotional development and trusting relationships that Camilla Bhatmanghelidj has championed.

To hug a hoodie is not just a soundbite. It is an important evidence informed means of valuing children, regardless of how difficult their behaviour  might be, recognising that they have legitimacy and that they should, as David Cameron said back in 2006, be understood in order to put things right.