Kirstie Allsopp reported to Social Services

[Eastie77Returns]

I know she’s worshipped on MN so will don by hard hat now😅 I think reporting her was absolutely ridiculous but I do question the wisdom of letting her 15 year old son travel across Europe on his own (well with friends). She mentioned lots of kids do this after their GCSEs. I think it’s usually after A Levels?

There’s already a thread about this and no one really cares as much as you think.

I'm amazed that Social workers would actually have the time to contact KS. Total waste of time.

I don’t know much about KA and am not familiar with this story, but “reported to Social Services” doesn’t carry the weight you seem to think it does. It just means someone made a call/submitted a request. 10,000 people could submit one about you today and it still wouldn’t mean anything.

^^ this

People report online personalities to SS all of the time. It’s not a serious thing

I have late August born twins, I'd let them go when the time comes after GCSEs.

And as if SS would give a shit.

Personally I wouldn't have been comfortable with my son doing this as there aren't any countries in Europe where he's of age and potentially can book a hotel room, etc. without having issues or having to lie. Seems like asking for trouble to me. One of those times when you just need to be a few days older and then it is all a lot easier?

Well best I give them a ring and self report. My son and his mate went back packing around Europe straight after GCSEs a couple of years ago as did almost all of his mates. And while I’m at it, I’ll report my parents as I did the exact same thing after O levels as did almost everyone I know.

I’m utterly baffled at the amount of posters who have apparently raised such incapable children (SEN aside) that they cant read a trains / buses timetable, book into youth hostels or use google or a map and explore European countries. 🤷‍♀️

You need to be 16 to stay at a youth hostel without an over 18 present...

... so a problem if you get separated from friends and need somewhere to stay, no? You'll just prompt the equivalent of SS in another country

What an absolute waste of social service's time

I make safeguarding referrals to SS from time to time as part of my job.
SS investigate and then report back with what they've done, if anything.
In my experience they rarely intervene in all but the most serious cases. I've been shocked at how many have come
back to me with "we contacted parents and no further action will be taken"
(and I'm talking neglect here, which is not, in my opinion, what KA did with her son. SS will not give a shit about the parent of a year 11
child going on their travels. My year 11 nephew is currently camping with mates at the Leeds festivals. Has been there since Friday. No adult
supervision. I can't see how it's a safeguarding concern if parents trust their child and if the child
doesn't have additional
needs.

I travelled around W Europe at 15 and it was fine, but if everyone in the group is under 18 (or even more so 16) you do have to be really careful about where to stay, typically researching and booking every stay ahead of time because even hostels have minimum age requirements of 16/18 now. This is often a symptom of a more aware (and in some cases opportunistic) culture around legal responsibility and risk management and compensation and not necessarily a reflection of teenagers being less able to handle, or incapable of handling, a trip on their own.

Yes they do travel after GCSEs (my son wanted to but you know, Covid). Most are 16 though (my son wouldn't have been and I was a bit relieved he couldn't go).
It depends on the kid. Surprised SS got involved - seems so much more serious incidents get pushed to the bottom of the pile.

It wasn't alone, as you literally said yourself immediately afterwards 🙄

The whole thing is ridiculous. What a waste of social services time and public money. Social services have much better things to be doing than putting together a report on whether a highly privileged, almost 16 year old, who most likely attends boarding school so is pretty independent of parents, should have spent a few weeks interrailing with friends. I would imagine every stop would have been pre-booked, he had parental credit cards and was in regular phone contact. It doesn't sound like neglect to me.

Actually you can in Germany with a Muttizettel (a note from your mum 🤣 - actually a signed letter from your legal guardian including their contact details and photocopy of their passport/ ID card). Not all hotels accept unaccompanied under 18s (more don't than do) but it isn't illegal. "Youths" are a category (14-18 year olds) separate from both children and adults who can under very specific circumstances live independently whilst remaining the legal and financial responsibility of their parents or legal guardian...

You can also provide a Muttizettel giving an 18 year old friend or sibling parental responsibility in specific situations, such as if the under 18 needs an x-ray or rather differently to go to a nightclub! (16-17 year olds are allowed in but have to leave at midnight like Cinderella 🤣).

Often if one of the party is over 18 there is no issue with the rest being under 18 when booking hotels, regardless of their being no blood relationships.

In many countries 15-17 year olds can stay in youth hostels and travel around without adult chaperones but can't book hotels but can potentially run into problems if something unexpected happens, like getting into an accident, when not having a legally responsible adult to give permission for treatment can create issues (not in life or death situations but more minor ones where someone needs to sign a permission form for treatment).

It is a good point though that in some countries under 18s are just regarded as children and social services equivalent can, should they choose which is unlikely, take responsibility for a minor without a guardian (unlikely unless they get into trouble legally or into an accident).

If you want to be on the safe side legally I suppose you should puck your destination countries carefully having researched each individual country's legal stance on the age group's status...

No idea why UK social services would be involved one way or the other though. It's not illegal in the UK for 15 year olds to be unaccompanied overnight.

Complete waste of time. He’s 15, not 5

Well all my children went to Reading Festival GCSE results week. Had a ball and middle was still only 15 ..SS really don't have the manpower/ time, for dealing with this nonsense!

Social services does seem a tad OTT to me. I travelled from London to Bordeaux on my own during the school holidays as a14 year old in 1984.

I had a pen friend who invited me to stay at their summer house near the beach for a few weeks. My mum put me on a coach at Victoria station and my pen friend's family met me at the coach stop in Bordeaux.

Did the journey back again no problem but my mum cried tears of relief when I got off that coach.

She didn't get any grief from SS but my grandmother went nuclear about it and called my parents all sorts of names during a very memorable argument about it all.

This is akin to the time wasters who ring 999 for non urgent reasons thereby taking up the call handlers time and then someone genuine can't get through. I mean if you don't like her fair enough, slag her off on social media but it's not the fault of all the other neglected/abused children that social worker is dealing with who has to spend even 5 minutes shutting down the Alsopp case.

She should be reported. 15 years old is far too young to go inter railing without an adult.

Ridiculous. What a waste of time. He was 15 and 16 not long after he went I think I read.
He was ready to do it, his parents were ready for him to do it. What’s the bloody problem. He probably has fabulous time and has come back more mature for his adventure.

A lot of kids in this country should do similar - might help with maturity and resilience.

Don't particularly think she is anything special, certainly don't care what she does tbh.

Social services hardly have resources to deal with actual abuse and neglect. They're not there to police parental decisions you disagree with

I mean I don't think I'd let my child go at 15 (but then we're a way away from that at the minute so hard to say) but people report other people maliciously or with ill judgment all the time to social services.
Unfortunately