Gemma Collins backs fostering campaign

TV personality Gemma Collins and her mother have backed a campaign to highlight the need for more foster carers.

Collins, who rose to fame on ITVBe's The Only Way is Essex, said she was considering becoming a foster carer herself.

Her mother, Joan, was fostered as a baby, which means the cause is very close to the pair's hearts.

"This is the message we want to give to people: if you have space in your heart, space in your homes, please foster," said Collins.

The pair have been working with the National Fostering Group, whose regional director Neil McCarthy said: "We know that there is a national shortage of foster carers across the UK and that has gone up by 14% this year."

It said there was an urgent need for 12,500 new foster carers across the UK.

Despite an estimated 26 million spare bedrooms in homes across England and Wales, only one in 10 people with one were considering fostering, even though allowances averaged £24,500 per child per year, said the group.

Joan said she found out she was fostered when she was aged five or six but she was able to learn more about her ancestry once her daughter featured on BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are?.

"It has tied up a lot of loose ends. When you don't know who your family is, you are forever wondering throughout your life," she said.

But she said being fostered had "moulded my life into what it is today and it has made me the person I am today".

Collins said: "My mum is the strongest person I know and I am so proud of her and that she is telling her story today.

"My mum was a baby and that [fostering] changed her life.

"It just touched my heart on so many levels because we've spent a lot of years asking these questions in our head.

"I urge everyone to think about it; I am definitely thinking about it."

Mr McCarthy urged anyone with a spare room to contact the group to find out more about fostering.

He said all potential foster carers were given thorough background checks and vetted by an independent panel before any decision was made.

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