Emmerdale actor Jay Kontzle has spoken out about how his grandparents raised him after his mum tragically died in a car crash.
Jay, now 32, was just four years old when his DJ mum Louise died on her way to a gig when she was just 21. Her parents, Ann and Mike Kontzle, then stepped up to become kinship carers for him, pushing everything else aside to look after him.
The actor, who plays Billy Fletcher in Emmerdale, appeared on BBC Look North this evening to talk about Kinship Care and call for more financial support for it. Kinship Care is when a child lives with a friend or relative - and often gets little or no support, the Mirror reports.
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Jay told the Mirror in November his grandparents "gave up their whole lives to push me forward. They got nothing for it and had no reason to do it other than their love for me.”
Speaking on Look North on Thursday, he added: "My nan and grandad had the opportunity to look after me. We didn't go through the best of times but they persevered and pushed me through and gave me an opportunity I wouldn't have had had I been in a different position.
"I think they are really proud of the person I have become and the thought of me giving back as well."
Jay, who is now a dad-of-two, has joined with the charity Kinship to call for more financial and emotional support for Kinship carers. Across England and Wales there are more than 162,400 children begin raised by kinship carers.
Jay told The Mirror: “If it wasn’t for my grandparents, I’d have been in care. My nan had to quit her job as a nurse to look after me, and my grandad had to work night shifts to earn more money.
"They really struggled to get by and used their pensions to care for me. I had the opportunity to play football and go to summer theatre school, which cost money. I know how expensive that stuff is now I have kids.”
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Ann and Mike are now 71 and 74 - Ann has had a series of strokes and is now in a care home, and Mike has leukaemia. Jay is still very close to them.
He explained that if financial support is better for kinship carers, more children would have a better future. He also added that it would mean less children could have to go into foster care.
Kinship surveyed 1,500 Kinship carers last year and found eight in 10 weren't getting the support they needed. A third of them warned they might not be able to continue looking after the children.
For example Stacy Porter, 33, is looking after her newborn niece Georgie because her mum couldn't. But she has no savings and is finding it difficult to afford to have a child.
At first Stacy got financial support, but that stopped after two years. In the cost of living crisis, Stacy has had to borrow money to keep afloat.
She says: “This is 100% the hardest thing I’ve ever done and probably ever will do in my lifetime, but it’s 100% the most rewarding thing to see her grow and develop. I genuinely couldn’t imagine life without her now. I will fight tooth and nail to keep her safe.”
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