The past six months has been a time of tremendous financial strain for the Children's Society, one of Britain's biggest children's charities. The organisation has had to endure a series of cuts - more than £6m was slashed from projects in England and Wales - and a wave of criticism from MPs and others. But the charity is fighting back, and leading the recovery is a new chief executive.
American Bob Reitemeier, who has spent most of his adult life working for aid organisations, firmly believes that the Children's Society has taken a positive step in changing its focus to a "social justice" campaign organisation that will lobby government as the voice of young people in Britain. But he is also adamant that the charity's direct work with children and young people will continue, albeit on a smaller scale.
He says: "We will never abandon our practice-based way of working with children. They are the heart and soul of the organisation. We still have 100 projects up and running which will provide us with a platform so we can learn about children and young people."
Reitemeier, 44 and with three young children of his own, has been the charity's operations director and takes over from retiring chief executive Ian Sparks next Monday. He readily admits that future work will involve working with "relatively small numbers of children", but, he adds, "we will be working with them in depth".
He intends to draw on his experiences on anti-poverty programmes with charity Action Aid. "Working in Bangladesh taught me the importance of getting the whole community to participate from the beginning," he says. "Projects won't work unless you listen to the people you are trying to help.
"We will continue to listen to children through our projects. We will use that understanding, backed up by research, to help the whole of the country to adapt its policies to stop youngsters being marginalised."
The society, perhaps best known in recent years for its work on young runaways, is likely to be far more outspoken about injustices in the youth criminal justice system. With more teenagers locked up in England and Wales than in almost any other country in western Europe, the charity will press for an end to remand in custody for all 15- and 16-year-olds. It will also campaign for alternatives to permanent school exclusion, highlighting what it describes as the "devastating" impact of exclusion on children and their families.
This refocusing follows months of condemnation and criticism at the society's decision to withdraw from Wales, after more than a century of work there.
The charity announced last November that it was pulling out of 13 self-advocacy projects in the principality, as well as up to 20 projects in England, with the loss of 300 staff. The move infuriated the Commons Welsh affairs select committee, which concluded that the society's reasons for pulling out of Wales were "unpersuasive in the extreme". Singled out for particular criticism was the charity's alleged failure to consult managers of the Welsh projects before making the decision.
Faced with a deficit of £4m and debts of £24m accumulated over the previous four years, the charity argued that its financial position left it with no alternative. "We hugely regret the impact on Wales," Reitemeier says. "The charity acted within its rights, following a procedure that was recognised as a correct procedure for a charity with an independent board of trustees."
He denies that the organisation is in crisis, insisting that its mission and vision has not changed - a message being communicated to the charity's partners and supporters, not least those in the Church of England, out of which the organisation sprang in 1881. However, he believes that the controversy over the Welsh cuts has highlighted the need for secure funding for key services for vulnerable people. These are services that may be seen as important by government, but are not a statutory requirement.
"This is a very important issue which we need to grapple with," Reitemeier says. "What everyone wants from the voluntary sector is innovative and creative work. If the sector becomes a sub-contractor for government programmes, you risk damaging the creativity that is the whole basis of the voluntary sector."
He points out that the charity commission is clear that voluntary organisations should not be providing services that the statutory sector is obliged to provide. It can only supplement them. Ministers, he believes, have to look at introducing a formalised process, with protocols and terms of engagement among the government, local authorities and the voluntary sector and communities themselves.
He is determined that there should be no repeat of the controversy over the cuts. "I believe passionately that the Children's Society should be on the inside trying to deliver change," he says. "It cannot be a substitute, or secure appropriate funding for services that are the government's responsibility."
The next 12 months will be a testing time for Reitemeier, who must decide how to redirect the charity's resources. He hopes to balance the books by March next year, and the hard decisions taken by Sparks mean he has a clean slate to take the charity forward. In Wales, the society has joined a task force to examine how projects can be continued and has offered £750,000 so that they can be supported for another 12 months. In England , the charity hopes to pass projects to other funders such as the government's Sure Start programme.
Reitemeier estimates that about 50% of his time will be spent taking the charity through this transition, which will involve a consultation process with trade unions about job losses. He accepts that the past 12 months have been hard - but the former US peace corps volunteer is upbeat about the future.
"There will be no more uncertainty after this year," Reitemeier insists.
"The changes will allow us to be a much stronger voice in the children's charity sector. We want to be the informing voice when people want to know the different impact issues have on children."
