Young carers
Thursday 8 October 2009
Young carers look after family members in the home, due to illness or disability.
What is a young carer?
A young carer is someone who is under the age of 18 who is the main carer of their sibling, grandparent, parent or anyone sick or disabled in their family.
Young carers can look after relatives with a range of issues which could include mental or physical illness or disabilities. Sometimes the person they are caring for can have alcohol or substance abuse problems too.
Whether you provide constant care or do just a few hours a week, you're still a carer.
The latest figures show that there are around 175,000 young carers in England and Wales alone.
The law
Are you a young carer? If so you have the same rights as other carers under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. This gives you access to social workers, local authorities and professionals that can help.
Young carers can also be considered "children in need" under the Children's Act 1989 depending on the extent of the caring duties.
Local authorities
Local authorities make sure that education, development and general well-being is not affected by caring responsibilities.
To find out about advice and support for young carers you first need to identify the appropriate local authority. This form will help you find the right people to talk to.
Life as a young carer
If you're a young carer you will probably have had no choice.
You may have to do the day-to-day house work like cooking, cleaning and ironing and you may also need to bathe or tend to your relative.
Like a lot of young carers you may also be the only one responsible for the financial income of the house.
Watch this video from 15 year old Kelly who looks after her disabled mum and find out how she copes.
Feeling low
All this extra responsibility could be leaving you, tired, drained and alone.Your school work could be suffering. Also you might feel low in self confidence especially if you don’t have much time to spend with people your own age. You may not even have any time to do any school work or studying at all.
Coping
Remember that you are never alone.
It’s ok to feel angry sometimes – you didn't ask for the role!
It can be worth defining your own personal boundaries. E.g. it’s ok to say no sometimes and it’s also fine to take some time for you. It could be worthwhile putting time aside for you to watch telly, do a sport or hang with friends.
Watch Hannah’s story and find out how she copes with looking after her father who has severe depression.
Help from professionals
Your local authority should be able to help you so that being a carer doesn’t affect your education.
You can also join a Young Carers Project and meet other people in the same boat as you. The group can also advice you on things like keeping a home or managing money.
There are also several help lines and support sites out there. If you need to talk why not give them a ring or get online?
- Young carers Forum
- Young Carer information and advice
- Or call ChildLine on 0800 1111 (free)
- The Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (cost of a local call) 24/7 to talk about your problems.
