Kirstie Allsopp has told the BBC she felt “sick” after being contacted by social services for allowing her 15-year-old son to go interrailing around Europe.
On Monday, the broadcaster wrote on social media that her son had returned from three weeks travelling abroad with another teenage friend, and without parental supervision.
Allsopp said she was “profoundly shocked” when Kensington and Chelsea Council informed her the matter had been referred to social services shortly after she discussed it on X, formerly Twitter.
A spokesperson for the council said its “absolute priority” was the safety of children.
Allsopp’s son travelled to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Marseille, Toulouse, Barcelona, and Madrid with a 16-year-old friend earlier this summer.
She told social media followers she had decided to allow him to go because society is “increasingly risk averse”, and children needed to develop the “confidence that only comes from trusting them”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, she said: “His cohort have all turned 16.
“Like many kids who are at Reading or Leeds [festivals]… or travelling in Europe, there are some who are a bit younger simply because of their cohort.”
Allsopp said she did not know who had contacted social services or the details of the complaint.
She said she did not want to appear critical of “amazing” social services, but that she had been shocked by the call.
Allsopp continued: “Confidence comes from trust and independence and from doing things by yourself.
“My son is capable. It was his idea, his plan, his savings.
“He came to me and said, ‘Can I do this?’, and I saw no reason for saying no.
“And when I mentioned that he’d done it, I wanted to be inspiring.”
A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson said: “Safeguarding children is an absolute priority.
“We take any referral we receive very seriously and we have a statutory responsibility for children under 18 years of age.”
