# 175 Scott Neeson plays fast and loose with the truth....again!

Scott Neeson is the penultimate PR man. He will say whatever he needs to say in any particular situation to achieve whatever goal he has set for himself. And he is very good at it and the media, by and large, laps it up.

In Scott Neesonland truth gets mixed up with fiction and no-one, unless they look very closely and ask a few questions, will be able to figure out where truth ends and the fiction begins.

“At a meeting held this week in Phnom Penh, His Excellency Vong Soth, Minister for Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and CCF Founder and Executive Director Scott Neeson discussed the importance of setting rigid guidelines for NGOs dealing with vulnerable children.

The Minister expressed his appreciation at CCF’s support of the Royal Government’s regulations regarding residential care for vulnerable children.  The Minister said that all NGOs need to apply this new policy and meet the standards that have been set, and congratulated Scott and CCF on their efforts to help vulnerable people.  

Neeson congratulated the Minister on the residential care policy, saying enforcing it will go a long way to protecting the rights of vulnerable children and safeguarding against unscrupulous people opening residential care facilities for their own personal gain.

According to Scott’s own figures, as presented to the IRS in 2013, it costs CCF $2,000 a year to provide accommodation to one child in residential care and another $2,000 per year to educate this child. That’s $4,000 a year for a child who is in residential care and going to school. This is is more than double, often triple and sometimes four times as much as this child’s family earns in a year working in the rubbish dump.

Neeson committed to make CCF a model NGO that the ministry can use as a standard for how the residential care guidelines should be implemented by other NGOs.

In the last two years, CCF has built more than 360 homes for families in the Steung Meanchey community.  CCF’s extensive child care, community support and healthcare programs enable children to live at home with their families while attending CCF’s award-winning education program.

CCF has not built 360 homes. The number is 180. And the houses, owned by whoever owns the land, have only been built ‘for families’ in the sense that families get to rent the houses from the owner of the houses and land. Who this person is, is a closely guarded secret.

A number of basic services encourage school attendance, starting with the provision of subsidized rice.

Subsidized rice amounts to $120 a year for the family of a child in residential care – not much compared to the $2,000 or $4,000 a year CCF is pulling in per child whilst the rest of the family survives on $1,000 a year.

CCF’s support increases in line with the family’s commitment to regular schooling, providing safe domestic situations and preventing the child from undertaking labor.

Some children attending CCF schools are also working in the rubbish dump to help support their families.

Families who prioritise their child’s education, provide safe living conditions free from domestic violence or drug and alcohol abuse are provided the option of moving into a World Housing home.

Although a more complex approach to ensure regular school attendance, this model keeps the child and family together. Most of all, it works, with remarkably low absentee rates, increased parental engagement and a new sense of hope.

CCF does not keep families together. I have met parents who ask for their children to be returned to their care who are told that they have signed their parental rights away with the contract they put their thumb print to. The parents are not allowed to keep a copy of the contract and Scott Neeson refuses to allow anyone to see or read it.

Of the more than 2,250 children in CCF’s education program, 88% stay with their families each night or, if in higher education, at least twice a week.

Some basic arithmetic is required here. CCF claims to be spending $2,000 per year on the education of one child. Given that the majority of 2,250 children are going to free government schools, for half a day at least, and sleeping with their families, how is this $2,000 a year being spent?

For children who come from outside of Phnom Penh, CCF arranges regular transport back to their families once or twice a month. Parents are encouraged to visit their children and, if necessary, CCF will pay for their transportation.

CCF encourages children to live with their families, and re-integrates children from residential care if changes in their family situation make it safe for them to move home.  Children learn more and function better when part of the community.

CCF refuses to return children to their families if parents ask to be re-united with their children

The Minister congratulated CCF on its commitment to finding resources and supporting families to keep children living at home.  He praised the CCF Granny Program, which not only provides care for elderly people in the Steung Meanchey community, but also builds connections between the younger generation of CCF students and the wisdom of older people in the community.

In the meeting, Minister  H.E. Vong Soth, “expressed his endless support to the organization for carrying out its duty so far on the development of the whole society, especially on helping to further promote the construction of houses for poor families in the community.”

Accepting an invitation to attend a World Housing opening, the Minister said MoSVY will fully cooperate and support CCF in its efforts to assist the impoverished children in Cambodia.

CCF is not constructing houses for poor families. CCF is using donor and sponsor monies to buy houses which it then rents to poor families. The houses are owned by whoever owns the land upon which they are built.

Sponsors, donors and members of the 4^th Estate should ask Neeson who owns the land.

Everything Neeson says about CCF needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt.