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?

I dont social services will care given they themselves place 16 yo care leavers in dodgy B&Bs, and in one case a caravan, to totally fend for themselves forevermore.

You have to feel sorry for the pathetic little busybody/ies that actually contacted social services about this.

Don't worry, I can't stand the snotty stuck-up cow.

In her defence she uses staying in her holiday home in Welcombe as the perfect way to gain independence.
These are the tourists we hate. An unlifeguarded beach, kids that swim indoors 50 weeks of the year thinking they know best because they spent a fortnight last summer here.
They are a rip tide away from calling out half the town to rescue on a bank holiday weekend.

She also screwed local tradesman on their rates - can't pay the mortgage with 'great exposure'

God I’d thing ss have more pressing stuff to deal with!!!

Given social services seem to expect vulnerable 16 year olds without family or money behind them to manage to live independently in poor accommodation for ever, the idea of them thinking a 15 p/nearly 16 year old with money to spend on good hotels or youth hostels and travelling with a 16 year old needing any sort of SW intervention seems exceedingly unlikely.

I hear son R4 at lunchtime saying his birdy was. 21st July so didn’t that make him 16 on the trip? I really don’t like KA she sometimes comes across on Twitter as rather goady.

Also she said her son didn’t want her to Tweet about the trip, hopefully she’ll listen to him next time.

So much drama. So what someone reported her and she got a standard phonecall. All she had to say was I'm very rich he was tracked on his mobile and has a hotel at every stop money for taxis so all sorted. The end. Social worker hasn't got time to worry about this non issue.

Personally I would not let my post GCSE son do that. But each to their own.

In the early 2000s I worked on a boat across the channel that allowed unaccompanied 15 year olds. With one of them, I did ask him to tell me his lift had arrived, but o couldn't leave the port to actually check so he could have lied and just gone around by himself.

It's ridiculous to say that at 16 you can live alone and be legal parent for your child, but at 15 you can't even travel without a parent.

In the UK...

Na, me either, she seems a bit of a knob. Remember when she smashed her child's iPad for not adhering to screen time rules.

And it's a rule of the youth hostels, not a law.

I think it’s ridiculous especially given how many children who are actually neglected fall through the net. Our young adults need to learn to take some risk otherwise this next generation just won’t cope in adulthood. Our primary school head is going big on resilience, risk taking and learning to fail at the moment. I’d almost rather a 15/16 year old was interailing compared to some of the rougher festivals.

I find it quite worrying that a 15 year old can be allowed to leave the country without parental consent being questioned at a border. So, in effect, a child could be abducted and persuaded to leave the country by somebody grooming them, as long as they have a passport.

Really? He turned 16 the day before SS called her. I left home at 16! Get a grip!

@ReadingSoManyThreads 15 is a child. Legally they should not be touring many countries without an adult.
SS will not do anything except have a word with her, because the threshold is so high.
I guarantee if someone poor had allowed their child to do this, people on MN would be universally condemning it. But Kirsty is rich, so it is fine apparently.

15yo can't go interrailing without SS being called, 16yo can leave home and have a child.

It doesn't make sense. Absolute waste of time and resources.

Well I went camping in the mountains at 14yrs old with 3 other 14yr olds, as part of an UNsupervised school expedition. No adults at all present.

Leave class and money out of it, the whole report and SS contact over an almost 16yr old having a holiday is ridiculous.

totally agree with all this!

i think 15/16 is too young plus what’s he going to do when all his 18 ur old friends are going inter railing!

my 16 yr old will be so excited to do this. None of her friends went this year!

He had parental consent. Loads of unaccompanied minors travel the globe every day. British Airways only stopped their unaccompanied minor service for children as young as 5 years old a few years ago and only to save money. Other airlines still offer it.

Yeah, poor judgement from her. A 15 y.o. is a child. She should not have allowed this til he was 18. Not without at least 2 people over 18 travelling with him. (And one of them should be over 25.)

Not saying she's a bad mother or a bad person btw. Just made a poor choice IMO.

I’ve never forgotten that and we only know because she Tweeted about it.
As I said above I think she’s rather goady.

I think it’s great that she’s allowed her year 11 son to do it. I’m sure he’s a well travelled, sensible young man. I hope he had a great time.

Maybe the child had a letter from their parent?

My daughter went to France aged 15 with her boyfriend's family (whom we knew before either of them were born). Going through UK border controls she and the boyfriend got ahead of the rest of the party. She was challenged about parental consent but her explanation and the arrival of b/f's parents smoothed it.

She was advised that a letter from me or her Mum would have been a good idea. I've an idea we actually did one for a subsequent trip.

My partents went away on holiday and left me age 17 and my sister age 15 at home alone for a week. That was a very long time ago and I wonder what today's parents would make of it. We were totally fine, in fact we really enjoyed and benefited from the freedom