CAMILA'S TIMELINE

​​1963

Camila Batmanghelidjh is born into a prominent Iranian family in Tehran. ​At age nine, she decides to devote her life to supporting vulnerable children she meets in the streets. She attends Sherborne School for Girls, the University of Warwick, and trains as a psychotherapist.

 

1991

As part of the Family Service Unit Camila creates and establishes Place2Be, a mental health charity for children, before leaving in 1996 to found Kids Company.

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1996

Kids Company begins its mission to protect and support vulnerable children across Britain through creativity, therapeutic care, and community-based interventions.

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1996–2015
For nearly two decades, Kids Company operating centres and schools across London, Bristol, and Liverpool, providing emotional and practical support to tens of thousands of children and young people facing severe adversity.

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1998

Prince Charles (now King Charles III) visits Kids Company for the first time.

 

2005

Kids Company wins the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Shrinking Childhoods Tate Modern: Exhibition on the South Lawn outside Tate Modern.

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2006

Camila is named Woman of the Year by New Statesman readers. Her book  Shattered Lives: Children Who Live with Courage and Dignity (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) is published and shortlisted for the YoungMinds Book Prize 2006.

 

2007

Camila earns the title of Most Admired Chief Executive from Third Sector magazine.

Demons and Angels Exhibition - Does It Have To Be This Way, at Shoreditch Town Hall. This exhibition was one of a year-long series of events marking the tenth anniversary of Kids Company.

 

2009

Camila receives the Businesswoman of the Year award at the Women in Public Life Awards (Dods & Scottish Widows) She also wins the Centre for Social Justice Lifetime Achievement Award. Camila is given an honorary degree by Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust and University of East London.

 

2010–2012

The arts programme at Kids Company is honoured by the Royal Society for Public Health for "innovative and outstanding contributions to the field of arts and health practice with children and young people.

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Feb- March 2011

My Life Illuminated, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank London, an exhibition of light sculptures, projection, poetry and soundscapes .

 

2012

Prince Charles visits (now King Charles III) Kids Company’s centre. 

‘Child Hood – The Real Event', Royal Academy of Arts, London, the exhibition celebrated another kind of heroic journey which rarely receives recognition, of the poignant achievement of children who have overcome unimaginable challenges to survive their childhood. 

 

 

2013

Camila is appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for her service to children and young people. BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour names her one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK. She becomes an Honorary Fellow of UCL. Her book Mind the Child: The Victoria Line (Penguin Underground Lines) is published. London School of Economics research highlights Kids Company’s innovative model, showing its positive impact on children’s emotional, educational, and social outcomes.

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2014

Holding Up Childhood. Royal Academy of Arts, London. This exhibition explored the themes of celebration and exclusion, family and belonging and isolation. 

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Camila supported a Centre for Social Justice Report: Enough is Enough that is published recommending a Royal Commission into the state of children's social care and mental health. See the Child: Change the System a call to action with all the major children's organisation supporting is launched.

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2015

Kids Company closes abruptly due to false sexual abuse claims that were investigated by the police who found that there were no failures in safeguarding and no evidence of criminality. Camila had always believed that she and Kids Company were targeted and systematically dismantled in a concerted effort by a group of political operators and journalists, due to her raising the alarm on child protection and the state of children's welfare across the country.

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2015–2021

Camila and a small team work tirelessly to defend Kids Company's reputation and preserve its legacy.

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2017
Camila publishes Kids: Child Protection in Britain: The Truth (Biteback Publishing) — with Tim Rayment.

 

2021

A High Court ruling exonerates Camila and Kids Company of mismanagement or misuse of funds and praises her "enormous dedication.2022 Camila is granted permission to pursue a judicial review of the Charity Commission’s report—the first such approval granted.

 

2020–2023

Despite deteriorating health and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Camila continues to support children often supporting other charities in developing their projects for children. Oasis Nurture being one of the receipents of her support.

 

December 2023

Camila deliver Christmas hampers and gifts to over 2,000 vulnerable children.

 

January 1, 2024

Camila passes away peacefully after celebrating her birthday with family, continuing to support children until her final days.

 

March 2024 

After Camila passed, Michael Kerman, the former clinical director at Kids Company, stepped forward as the claimant in the case against the Charity Commission. Michael did so to ensure that the case would continue, offering a chance at justice for all those who had been stigmatised by the untruthful narrative created in the aftermath of Kids Company’s closure. Michael made tremendous sacrifices to continue the case before the High Court.

 

March 2025

Over 40 prominent public figures—including Coldplay, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Frears, Susie Orbach, Lemn Sissay, Bella Freud, Rowan Williams, and Tony Hall—lend their support to the legal effort.

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May 2025

The High Court condemns significant findings of the Charity Commission’s inquiry as “extremely unfair,” “irrational,” and unlawful—vindicating her and Kids Company. In many ways, securing this judgement is about getting closure—when Kids Company closed many of people were denied closure by the unfair circumstances, unjust treatment, and false narratives. With the vindication of two court judgements, we are able to close one chapter and begin another, focusing our collective energy on Camila’s legacy of unrelenting love.

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September 2025

CAMILA'S a new standalone organisation is launched with the aims of taking forward the work that Camila and Kids Company so relentlessly pioneered over three decades.

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Camila leaves a profound legacy of unrelenting love, she along with her team transformed the landscape of childhoods for real children with radical compassion—and she has inspired another generation to carry forward her vision.