Kirstie Allsopp says social services contacted her about son’s interrailing trip
By John Besley, PA
Kirstie Allsopp said she was contacted by social services for allowing her teenage son to go on an interrailing trip.
The Location, Location, Location presenter, 52, said she allowed her 15-year-old son, Oscar, to go interrailing across Europe with his 16-year-old friend this summer but had since been contacted by a social worker who informed her that a file had been opened after child protection concerns were raised.
Allsopp said officials did not understand that she had been targeted by someone falsely alleging neglect.
She told The Mail on Sunday: “I just felt sick – absolutely sick. Then I was cross. I was very, very cross.
“It was just so extraordinary. I was in a parallel universe where they were actually taking this seriously.
“I have broken no law and nothing about allowing my child to travel around Europe is neglectful.”
Allsopp said she was not told how the referral had been made or by whom, with the social worker insisting every referral must be looked into and questioning what safeguards were put in place for her son’s trip.
They also confirmed a file had been opened on Oscar, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), her local council, could keep the file open “in case there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further”.
Constant chats with mates, and online, about how much we all travelled unaccompanied; to school, to grandparents, to pen pals, to babysitting gigs, now it’s all 😱 what the heck has happened? Is this all 24 hour news? Because the stats are very clear, travel is safer than ever.
— Kirstie Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) August 25, 2024
She told the Mail: “For me, that was the sucker punch – the idea this file might continue existing.
“What (the official) said to me was, ‘if in six months there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further, it would be important that we had kept a note of the first referral’.
“That was the Orwellian moment. The fact it was maliciously done wasn’t coming home to her.”
A spokesperson for RBKC said: “Safeguarding children is an absolute priority. We take any referral we receive very seriously and we have a statutory responsibility for children under 18 years of age.”
Allsopp received mixed reactions after revealing the decision online earlier this week, with some criticising her for letting him go while others praised the move.
She wrote in a post on X: “For obvious budget reasons, inter-railing isn’t on the cards for everyone, but in this increasingly risk-averse world it’s vital that we find any ways we can to give our children the confidence that only comes from trusting them.
“Of course I missed spending the summer with our son, but I’m so proud of him & my loss is nothing compared to his gain & the encyclopaedic knowledge he now has of the differences between one McDonalds & another, if we’re afraid our children will also be afraid, if we let go, they will fly.”
