What is a young carer?
Carers from age 5 to 18 are known as young carers and often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.
The tasks undertaken can vary according to the nature of the illness or disability, the level and frequency of need for care and the structure of the family as a whole.
A young carer may do some or all of the following:
- Practical tasks, such as cooking, housework and shopping.
- Physical care, such as lifting, helping a parent on stairs or with physiotherapy.
- Personal care, such as dressing, washing, helping with toileting needs.
- Managing the family budget, collecting benefits and prescriptions.
- Administering medication.
- Looking after or “parenting” younger siblings.
- Emotional support.
- Interpreting, due to a hearing or speech impairment or because English is not the family’s first language.
- Some young carers may undertake high levels of care, whereas for others it may be frequent low levels of care. Either can impact heavily on a child or young
What do Young Carers' Family Support Workers do?
We have a dedicated team who work specifically with young carers, they are called Young Carers’ Family Support Workers. They help young carers in a variety of ways including:
- Giving advice and support if you have any problems such as personal or health problems or bullying that you want to talk about in confidence.
- Organising free events and activities so you can get out and enjoy yourself and also meet other young carers who may be going through a similar experience toyou.
- If you have problems with school, then we can talk to your school to help them understand your situation and become more flexible with school work and homework.
- Help you with any problems you may have with social services or health authorities.
- Give you information about the condition of the person you care for, what their medication does to them and details of other organisations who can help and support you.
- If you have any special hobbies or interests we can try and arrange for you to continue with these.
- Organise young carers’ help groups which may help with feelings of low self esteem, anxiety or lack of confidence.
How you can get help from this service?
If you, or someone you know think you may be a young carer and would like to talk to someone in confidence, call us on 01253 393748 or fill out the Contact Us Form on this website and someone will contact you as soon as possible.