Editor
Kirstie Allsopp has advised the BBC she felt “sick” after being contacted by social providers for permitting her 15-year-old son to go interrailing round Europe.
On Monday, the broadcaster wrote on social media that her son had returned from three weeks travelling overseas with one other teenage pal, and with out parental supervision.
Allsopp mentioned she was “profoundly shocked” when Kensington and Chelsea Council knowledgeable her the matter had been referred to social providers shortly after she mentioned it on X, previously Twitter.
A spokesperson for the council mentioned its “completely precedence” was the security of kids.
Allsopp’s son travelled to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Marseille, Toulouse, Barcelona, and Madrid with a 16-year-old pal earlier this summer season.
She advised social media followers she had determined to permit him to go as a result of society is “more and more threat averse”, and youngsters wanted to develop the “confidence that solely comes from trusting them”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, she mentioned: “His cohort have all turned 16.
“Like many children who’re at Reading or Leeds [festivals]… or travelling in Europe, there are some who’re a bit youthful merely due to their cohort.”
Allsopp mentioned she didn’t know who had contacted social providers or the small print of the criticism.
She mentioned she didn’t wish to seem crucial of “wonderful” social providers, however that she had been shocked by the decision.
Allsopp continued: “Confidence comes from belief and independence and from doing issues by your self.
“My son is succesful. It was his concept, his plan, his financial savings.
“He got here to me and mentioned, ‘Can I do that?’, and I noticed no cause for saying no.
“And once I talked about that he’d carried out it, I needed to be inspiring.”
A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson mentioned: “Safeguarding youngsters is an absolute precedence.
“We take any referral we obtain very significantly and we have now a statutory accountability for youngsters beneath 18 years of age.”
