The wife of TV host Ben Fogle was questioned by social services over a report that she verbally abused their two children.
Marina Fogle, who co-hosts The Parent Hood podcast, has opened up about the “nausea and rage” she felt returning from a family holiday to the sinister allegation of abuse.
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Ben Fogle and wife Marina, pictured with their son Ludo and daughter Iona in 2018, have been accused of verbally abusing their children Credit: PA
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Marina said the couple were left in complete disbelief after a neighbor complained to the councilCredit: Alamy
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Kirstie Allsopp, pictured with her two sons in 2021, was contacted by social services after allowing Oscar (right) to travel in Europe with his friends Credit: Getty
The couple, whose children were aged three and four at the time, were accused in the letter of “shouting unacceptable verbal abuse”.
Without a word about what they got home, Marina planned to call social services the next day and tell them they had made a shocking mistake.
But before she had a chance, two women were at her front door following what turned out to be a complaint from neighbors in their London neighborhood.
“Trembling” in their presence for fear of what might happen, Marina was subjected to numerous questions about how her children, Ludo and Iona, were doing, as well as close questioning about life at home.
Writing in The Times, Marina said: “Shaking, I asked what date this alleged incident took place. ‘August 15’, one of them replied, and that was four days ago.
“’But we were away last week,’ I ventured. ‘Last night we came back’.”
Marina was forced to produce the family’s boarding passes to prove they were not in the country when the alleged incident took place in 2013.
In a desperate attempt to show her little ones were safe, she invited them into the lounge to “say hello to these ladies”.
She added: “My children spent 20 minutes showing off their Legos and toys, after which I was told there was obviously no problem and hoped I understood why they had to investigate.
“Of course I understand. Many reports like these are genuine and result in the removal of children who need to be protected from their families. But sometimes they make mistakes.”
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Marina and New Lives in the Wild presenter Ben were left traumatized by the actions of someone who wanted to “make trouble” for them and accuse them of “failing [their] children”.
It comes after Marina and Ben’s friend Kirstie Allsopp revealed her anger at being contacted by a social worker at the weekend.
The Location, Location, Location host, 52, was told the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea opened the file after she allowed her 15-year-old son to travel in Europe.
The social worker asked what “safeguards” Allsopp had put in place before allowing Oscar to go with friends for three weeks on the rail this summer.
She was also told that the local authority could keep her file open “in case there is another referral and we need to come to your house and investigate this further”.
Allsopp described the intervention as “Orwellian” and “absolutely outrageous”.
She said: “I just felt sick – absolutely sick. Then I was angry. I was very, very angry. It was so unusual.
“I was in a parallel universe where they actually took this seriously.
“I have not broken any law and nothing about allowing my child to travel in Europe is neglect.”
Marina added that Allsopp was a “truly brilliant mother” and could sympathize with the “sick feeling in her stomach” after receiving the message.
We contacted the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for comment.
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Source: HIS Education