KIRSTIE Allsopp was questioned by social services after it was revealed she had allowed her 15-year-old son to travel to Europe with his friend this summer.
The Location, Location, Location host, 52, expressed her anger after a text message from a social worker asking to “talk” to her.
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Kirstie Allsopp was questioned by social services. Credit: Alamy
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Kirsite allowed Oscar (right, pictured in 2021) to travel with a friend this summerCredit: Getty
She was told the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea had opened a case file after receiving a “referral” about her son Oscar Hercules, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The social worker asked what “safeguards” Allsopp had put in place before allowing Oscar to travel around Europe for three weeks.
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.”
Allsopp received mixed reviews online after speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Wednesday.
The TV presenter said she agreed because she thinks he is a “very sensible young man”, but admitted she struggled emotionally as she missed him during the summer break.
Commenting on how perspectives on allowing young people freedom have changed, she said: “In previous generations, people did things much younger.
Kirstie Allsopp forced to withdraw from Location, Location, Location as the star was left battered and bruised
“We are observing a mental health crisis with young people. A lot of people are talking and writing about it.
“We have to ask ourselves – how much of this is because of our fear and our worry, and how much of our fear and worry comes from 24-hour news and a lot of belief that the world is a worse place?”
She pointed out that her elders went into great occupations as teenagers, including her father-in-law who joined the Arctic convoys in World War II at age 16, her mother-in-law who went to university in South Africa at age 15, and her father who joined the army in 17.
The rules of traveling as a 15-year-old
ACCORDING to the European Union, there are no rules preventing a 15-year-old from traveling without an adult.
A teenager at that age can go with friends or alone.
However, some countries may require formal approval, in the form of a letter, from the child’s parent or guardian.
And Interrail’s official website explains that you don’t have to be of minimum age to travel, but recommends that minors have parental consent to travel alone.
The discussion came after Allsopp shared on Xu that her son had just returned from three weeks of interrail, traveling around Europe usually by train, with his friend.
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The TV star faced criticism for her decision Credit: Getty
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Kirstie is best known for presenting Location, Location, Location
She wrote: “For obvious budgetary reasons, a guard rail is not available to everyone, but in this increasingly risk-averse world, it is vital that we find all the ways to give our children the confidence that only comes from trusting them.
“Of course I missed spending summers with our son, but I’m so proud of him and my loss is nothing compared to his gain and the encyclopedic knowledge he now has of the differences between one McDonald’s and another, if we’re afraid our kids will be too , if we let them go, they will fly.”
Her post sparked a conversation online, with some criticizing her for letting him go, while others praised her decision.
Speaking about her decision on Radio 4, Allsopp also did not want her son, who is young for his school year, to be left behind by his peers.
“He’s 16 today and he’s a summer baby, so he’s very young for his age,” she said.
“As any parent of summer-born children knows, there’s always the dilemma that their friends will reach a key age before them, and are you holding them back just because of the number of days in the year?
“Or you say ‘Yes, you can do what your cohort is doing’. So I think that’s the first thing.”
She continued: “It’s strange to say that I didn’t struggle with it on a practical level, because he came to me with the proposal, he’s a very sensible young man, he’s never been in trouble at school, so when he said, ‘I want to do it’, I thought , ‘Okay, okay, bless you’.
“I was struggling on an emotional level because I knew I wasn’t going to see him for a long time this summer.
“He’s only got two more years at school and then he’ll probably go to university and then he’ll be away.
“So as a parent, is it always, ‘Oh, I want to be with my child,’ or is it good for them to do their own thing?”
Allsopp, who is mother to sons Oscar and Bay Atlas with husband Ben Andersen, also noted that parents worry about different things and, for her, her fear is that her children are traveling in cars with new drivers and drugs, not traveling.
When asked if she would treat her daughter like that, she said that she would because her parents treated her like a brother.
“It is clear that girls face different dangers. Statistically, in fact, boys are more at risk of violent attacks from strangers,” she said.
“The dangers that girls can encounter, as we all know, often come from people they know.”
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Source: HIS Education