FORMER Love Island star Kendall Rae Knight is urging people to consider fostering, having teamed up with children’s charity Barnardo’s.

The former Miss North West, 29, spoke candidly about growing up within a foster family and wanting to use her platform to “raise awareness” about the annual ‘Foster Care Fortnight’ campaign from Barnardo’s.

Kendall, Blackpool-born and now living in Chorley with Preston North End footballer Andrew Hughes, has 845,000 Instagram followers and has shared her passion for the topic with fans on previous occasions.

Speaking exclusively to the Lancashire Telegraph, she said: “My mum was a foster carer when I was growing up, so I’ve shared my home with children from all different walks of life, of all different ages.

“It was such an eye-opening experience for me as a teenager because you really do take everything for granted while growing up, so when children were turning up with all their belongings in one little bag it really shook me into realising how lucky I was.

“Mum did us a huge favour in teaching us that lesson, that there were so many people who need help out there.

On how she came to join forces with Barnardo’s, Kendall said that “neglected” children should have been highlighted more during the pandemic, particularly while schools were closed and that she had “worried” about how many children weren’t being noticed in lockdown.

She said: “There was, quite rightly, a lot of focus on domestic violence during the lockdowns but not a lot about children, and I felt that should have been highlighted.

“Usually when a child is being neglected, a teacher or neighbour will pick it up – so with them not being in school and households not being allowed to mingle there was less chance of them being noticed.

“I just thought there must be so many children who need help that no-one knows about because everyone is stuck at home.

“That’s when I spoke to my management and contacted Barnardo’s, who were keen to get something going on my social media to just put the word out about how needed foster carers are at the moment.”

Kendall has felt that there is often a stigma surrounding who is eligible to become a foster carer, something she is keen to address through her work with the charity.

She said: “I think people think you have to be a middle-aged married couple or have parental experience to become a foster carer, when really you can come from any background, you can be any sexual orientation, single, married and there’s no upper age limit.

“They don’t discriminate at all.”

According to The Fostering Network, 57,380 children are living with foster families in England, but 'thousands of new foster families are needed each year'.

Kendall, a former retail manager turned model and influencer, appeared on series four of ITV2’s smash hit reality TV show Love Island before becoming the first to be ‘dumped’ from the island after six days.

While unlucky in love on the 2018 show, Kendall ‘coupled up’ with footballer beau Andrew Hughes in 2019 – and the pair moved in together early last year.

She said that fostering is something that she will “100 per cent look into in the future”, adding that it would be something she’d consider now but for work commitments keeping her away from home for long periods of time.

If you would like more information on the Foster Care Fortnight campaign, visit barnardos.org.uk/foster/fostering-fortnight