Aibu to feel very sorry for Ben & Marina Fogle who were wrongly reported to social services by a neighbour

yes.you are.
what a boring read."one day nothing very much happened and everyone was fine"
social workers doing there job really shouldnt be wasted as a headline. i know first hand the impct of social workers doing their job really badly,relentlessly with devestating results.
put that on the bloody news.because im not alone and its on the daily.
as for kirsty-i expect she did make a measured decision before allow.encourage her son to go on tour.
seems to me the actual "safeguard fail" continues to be overlooked and despite it not being her intent...she singlehanded advertised two young/therefore vulnerable lads ,unaccompanied were off on their travels...as a parent in the public eye these details could be potentially dreadful for info in the wrong(criminal)hands.

What

Minus the bull mastiff and three inches, my DP fits into two of those boxes (and his best friend into 3 by virtue of his height) so you think they’re more likely to be child abusers than a wealthy couple based on what? How they look?

But until they've investigated (in this case made a phone call), how do they know which reports are malicious and which are not?

There are a great number of malicious calls made, SS know this and, when it's obviously a malicious call, the case is closed. But they don't know which are which until they've looked into it.

They can't just decide its malicious because the person is a household name from the telly. I'm amazed anyone cant work that out for themselves tbh.

Money and fame don't guarantee you're a good person. Surely we've learnt that from numerous examples over the past few years!

I wonder how many tattoed burly 6 foot males with a bull mastiff ,SS have "investigated".It seems to me that interviewing high profile wealthy couples, is a soft option ,Meanwhile many children from difficult back grounds go undetected, due to involvement of police senior SS workers and so on .

I think the Fogles are being unreasonable for having horrible plastic grass. I thought he cared for the environment.

consider yourself policed, Op!
(and don't feel you have to defend your actions)

No it's not all good. I had a malicious report done by an adult social worker when DS was a few months old. I knew that it was malicious and there was nothing to be concerned about but even still it was one of the most traumatic things I have ever gone through. The 'what ifs' tormented me for weeks, until child services told me they were closing the case. I had to have therapy to get over it.

100% this. There is very little reason to worrying about ‘being reported’ if you’re not doing anything wrong.

If providing a summary means one less person clicks and gives the Fail advertising money, my morally superior work here is done.

Ah. Fair enough.

I think Kate Moss had some involvement with her daughter when she was a toddler didn’t she? I’m not sure how much though.

We were reported to social services many years ago when we rushed our newborn baby to hospital in the middle of the night. We said dh needed to get back home to be with our 2 year old and it seems the hospital assumed we'd left the toddler on their own (our Nanny was actually in the house).

I didn't mind being reported and felt comforted that children had hospital staff looking out for them.

why did you bother posting?
to show how morally superior you are?

Assuming the parents are telling the truth....

Don't you know people with money cant possibly abuse their children??

It depends what you are shouting.

In 2002, it was triggered after just one incident.

You can see where this trend is going, SS are going to be slightly more reluctant to have any interactions at all with celebrities and z-listers.

Hell, they treated Katie Price with kid gloves... imagine if she was a mother on a council estate.

The thing is that Marina and Kirstie are outraged by the intrusion into their middle class parenting, but what do they think social workers are for? No one has ever phoned a sw to say I’m awful, I shout at my kids until they cry, please investigate.

And it also reminds me of a quote I read here on Mumsnet, something about an unemployed dad’s beer on the front doorstep at 4 in the afternoon is not seen in the same way as a yummy mummy’s cheeky Prosecco on the patio after the school run.

They would have been far better to write about how difficult it is to get the balance right, and how it is a shame sw get so much criticism when all they are doing is trying to protect children. But no. All they seem to have written about is me me me. Poor me. I’m a middle class mummy. How dare I be lumped in with all the poor people.

No, I don't feel sorry for them. I take the view that I'd rather be wrongly reported than for someone to suspect my DC needed help and ignore it. SS are very stretched and the bar for action is very high. A loving parent who treats their children well has nothing more to fear than a chat and a visit where they can clarify the situation and demonstrate their DC are fine. If that in many cases. That's hardly onerous or traumatic for people like the Fogles and there does need to be a strong safeguarding culture.

I absolutely do not care.

Good for ss checking out a potential case.

incidentally, I’ve met Ben Fogle and he was an up himself prick.

Shouting is cause for a SS complaint? Whoa. I try not to shout, of course, and most times I manage it. But I'm human, and I have a teenager...