Would you let your teen go on a European adventure with another friend sans parental supervision? One mom and BBC broadcaster did just that — and then was reported to and contacted by Social Services.
Kirstie Allsopp, a British television presenter, best known for her appearances on Channel 4 property shows including Location, Location, Location, Love It or List It UK, and Relocation, Relocation told the BBC she felt “sick” after being contacted by social services for allowing her 15-year-old son to go interrailing around Europe.
Allsopp wrote on social media that her son, Oscar, had returned from three weeks of traveling abroad with another friend without parental supervision.
She said her son was young for his graduation year and was traveling after completing his General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) with a 16-year-old friend. This would be the equivalent of a high school diploma in the United States.
Posting on Instagram, the 52-year-old mom said, “I thought his trip was inspiring, and it never occurred to me in a million years that a call from children services would be involved, it’s been a huge shock, not least for Oscar.”
Allsopp said a social worker from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) would not reveal how the referral was made or by whom and said officials did not appear to understand she was likely targeted by someone falsely alleging neglect — AKA internet trolls.
She said the social worker told her every referral must be looked into regardless of validity and questioned her on what safeguards were put in place for her son’s trip.
Speaking about the handling of the referral, Allsopp told the Daily Mail, “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.”
A spokesperson for RBKC confirmed to the Guardian that an investigation into the allegation was ongoing and they had a legal obligation to look into all reports.
Allsopp said the social worker confirmed a file had been opened on Oscar and that they could keep the file open “in case there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further.”
Allsopp said, “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.”
This all began after Allsopp posted a thread on X about her son’s travels.
“My little boy has returned from 3 weeks inter-railing, he’ll be 16 on Wednesday so he went with a mate who’s already 16 due to hostel/travel restrictions, but they organised the whole thing; Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Marseille, Toulouse, Barcelona & Madrid 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 @JonHaidt@FreeRangeKids,” she wrote.
After her post on X went viral, she was met with some questions.
“Interesting. I love my #FreeRangeKids but don’t think they could do what yours did. Or would you have let a 15yr old daughter do the same 3 week trip abroad with “only’ a 16yr old girlfriend accompanying her??? Genuine question,” one user asked.
Allsopp responded, “The data suggests that girls are more at risk from sexual assault from people they know and boys are more at risk from violent attack from people they don’t. I was allowed to travel in my teens, as were my sisters.”
Another user accused her of knowing that this kind of content would “wind people up.”
She rebutted, “It’s so important that we stop [infantilising] young people, it’s not about winding people up, it’s about openly discussing this topic, we are stripping people of trust & responsibility.”
Allsopp, who recently returned from her own trip to Switzerland, said her recent experience exposed the extent of Britain and their cautiousness with children compared with people elsewhere in Europe.
“I knew that we were becoming a more risk-averse culture in the UK and the US. My time in Switzerland has taught me a lot. There, as in Japan, children walk to school alone and are encouraged to learn early to be self-sufficient, and trusted to make sensible choices,” she said.
She said she hoped the “silver lining” of her experience would be “that everyone stops and thinks about the freedoms we had as children, and ask what harm could be done, not by the freedoms, but by the restrictions and fears we are imposing on our kids.”
An RBKC spokesperson told The Guardian, “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.”
