Tag Archives: young carers

Young carers: sacrifice and support

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While there has been a lot of conversation about the vulnerable over the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rightly so, there has not much attention given to the people who care for them, particularly the young people who do so. Young carers carry a lot on their shoulders, and this has only been increased with the impact of the pandemic affecting those they love. However, we also need to look out for these young people and give them the support they deserve.

Issues faced by young carers

Young carers are faced with many challenges due to their position and this can depend on the carers, their age, the level of care they give and who they care for. A report on siblings of disabled children from the UK charity Sibs found that the particular young carers they engaged with tended to not get as much attention and support from their parents because of their sibling needing more urgent care. Even something as simple as going out to play centres or restaurants must be adapted to fit the disabled sibling, with the carer sibling rarely getting their own choice.

Young carers have also been found to be at more risk of mental health problems than others, particularly if the person they are caring for is a parent with a mental illness or a history of substance misuse.  A study from Scotland found that young carers, much like adult unpaid carers, were more likely to have physical health issues such as tiredness, backache and bad diets in addition to reporting worry, stress, anxiety, depression and resentment. They were also found to have significantly lower self-esteem and feelings of happiness than non-carers.

Impact of pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted young carers greatly. Sibs reported that a lot of parents felt their carer children were extremely worried about contracting the virus and giving it to their sibling, or bringing it into the household if their family were shielding or vulnerable. Others also reported their child withdrawing from friends, either because of shielding or simply because they were uncomfortable socialising outside of their household. Sibs also noted cases where siblings would become the object of their disabled sibling’s anger or frustration.

In addition, a lot of activities and support groups normally put into place for these specific carers, in order to give them attention and opportunities to enjoy life outside of their role as a young carer, were cancelled due to COVID-19, and left many young carers at home, where they were often ignored if their sibling or parent needed additional support.

Other young carers have had to take on a range of duties, including shopping for their families or taking care of their home or other siblings. A lot of these young people have had to balance this with continuing their education from home and dealing with having their lives outside of the home cut off due to social distancing and isolation. This is on top of the general struggles of growing up as a child and adolescent. Izzy, a 12-year-old interviewed by a study from the Centre for Research on Children and Families, said she felt her entire life was “being a mini adult, but it’s not a pick and choose the time sort of thing.” 

Support

There have been a range of support services for young carers across the United Kingdom. Young carers groups have been found to be a great resource to help find other young carers and share some of the issues that affect them with people who understand. These groups  are also important as an outlet outside of their role in the family home, providing support  solely for  young carers. Even during the pandemic, some groups were able to schedule calls for young carers which provided them with interaction just for them, and something to look forward to each week at home.

However, many young carers remain “hidden” from services, either out of choice or because they have been ignored. Some simply don’t know about support groups or services, or have been found to not consider themselves ‘carers’. Instead, they  view their lives as “normal” or doing something that’s “expected” of them. Others may be afraid of the stigma their particular situation may bring them, and therefore want to be perceived as the same as their fellow students.

Final thoughts

The pandemic has pushed conversation and debate towards how we care for the most vulnerable in our society, and hopefully will lead to improvements in our attitudes towards care. However, this also has to extend towards unpaid carers, and particularly the young people who often shoulder invisible labour at the expense of their childhood.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange blog on carers

Who’s caring for our young carers?

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In less than two months time the UK will come together to recognise the 700,000 young people in the UK who provide care and support to families and friends, on Young Carers Awareness Day on 25 January.

Every day, children and young people provide physical and emotional care and support to their family members. Helping with household tasks, they care for young siblings, administer medication and deal with the emotional and physical stress of caring for a loved one with an illness. Estimates of the number of young carers living in the UK vary greatly. But Carers Trust suggests the number of young carers to be around 700,000 – that’s 1 in 12 secondary school-aged pupils. And those are only the ones we know about. Too many are falling through the net, going unnoticed and unidentified by services who can support them.

Attainment and employment

Earlier this year we joined in publicising the 2017 Young Carers Awareness Day, whose theme was “When I grow up”. The idea was to help people to understand how difficult it can be for young carers to realise their hopes and dreams for the future without the right support in place. A survey conducted by the Young Carers Trust found that over half (53%) of those surveyed were having problems in coping with schoolwork, with nearly 60% struggling to meet deadlines. Over 70% have had to take time out of school or learning specifically to care for a family member. A third admitted that they have to skip school most weeks.

With over 50% of young carers surveyed by The Children’s Society admitting that their caring responsibilities have caused them to miss days at school, and the burden of caring impacting on the ability of children to engage fully with school activities, it is unsurprising that young carers are twice as likely to be NEET as their peers. In addition, young carers in work find caring responsibilities have a disruptive effect on their workplace attendance, with understanding and flexible employers often being the difference between young adult carers remaining in work or becoming unemployed.

Mental health and wellbeing

Caring for a relative takes a massive toll on a young person. Recent reports published by Carers Trust and the Children & Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPS) both show the significant mental health burden that caring places on a young person. Stress, isolation and anxiety that can come as a result of being a carer can have a significant impact on a child as they lose much of their contact with the outside world, become removed from social groups and miss out on opportunities to experience a “normal” childhood. Projects like Off the Record’s Young Carers Project in Croydon provide support and opportunities for respite for young carers. But it is clear that as child and adolescent mental health services  (CAMHS) are becoming increasingly stretched themselves, it is more important than ever to ensure that specialist services are also made available to young carers.

Partnerships working to provide support

Young carers often come into contact with multiple services. Education, social care, health and others all have an impact on young carers and their experiences and as a result can have a positive impact on their experiences too. Increasingly, services are being encouraged to cooperate in order to create a holistic support network for young carers, which encompasses every area of need they may have, and creates a seamless transition for young carers through all of their interactions with various services. Key coordinators and facilitators are vital in this role.

In the previously referenced report from CYPS, it was highlighted that many young carers felt positive about – and took pride in – their caring role, but that around two-thirds also said they felt “left out of things” at least some of the time. While they care for their loved ones, we need to make sure someone is caring for them.

Young Carers Awareness Day 2018 will take place on 25 January 2018.

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Being a young carer shouldn’t be a struggle

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Five teens hang out in a park and share a bible

By Stacey Dingwall

Last month the winner of the Apps for Good “People’s Choice Award” was revealed as a group of school pupils from Denbigh High School in Luton, with their idea for a mobile phone app to support isolated young carers. One of the team members revealed that “the problem that we are trying to solve is how can you help young carers get back into society, meet others like themselves and access the essential support services that they need – all in one place?”

The question of how to support young carers also gained publicity earlier this year with the launch of a national campaign calling for policy changes to help young adult carers to participate in learning and work. NIACE, along with other members of the National Policy Forum for Young Adult Carers, is calling for three specific policy changes: young adult carers to be formally identified as a ‘vulnerable group’ giving them full entitlement to the 16-19 Bursary; young adult carers to be exempt from the 21 hour rule in the benefit system; and young adult carers to be able to access flexible hours Traineeships and Apprenticeships.

The extent of young carers in the UK

New measures introduced in April 2015 through the Care Act and the Children and Families Act place a responsibility on local authorities in England to take reasonable steps to identify young people who are caring for an ill or disabled family member, assess their needs and explicitly define what those needs are.

Our latest briefing for our members, many of whom work in children’s services or the voluntary sector, looks at the impact that caring can have on young people’s lives and how support can be improved.

2013 figures from the Office for National Statistics, based on the 2011 Census, placed the number of young carers (aged under 19) in England and Wales at 244,000. Of these, 23,000 young carers were aged under nine, and 10,000 were aged under seven. There were also 149,000 aged between 15 and 19, around twice the number aged between 10 and 14. Estimates from the Carers Trust suggest there are 36,821 carers in Scotland aged under 25, and around 30,000 child carers in Northern Ireland.

Hidden carers

In order to be identified in official statistics however, young carers need to be known to health, education and social care services. As acknowledged by the UK government’s 2010 Carers’ Strategy, many young carers actually remain hidden from services.

This is for two reasons: services need to do more to identify them; and some families actively conceal their need for a young person to undertake caring responsibilities, out of fear they will be taken into care. Another issue is that the young person or their family may not even recognise that they are classed as a young carer.

The practical, mental and emotional impacts of caring

With regards to the practical impact of caring, The Children’s Society has highlighted research by the Audit Commission which found that young carers between the ages of 16 and 18 had a much greater chance of being not in education, employment or training (NEET). In terms of the mental health of young carers, research by the Carers Trust found that 38% of those who participated indicated that they had a mental health problem. Additionally, the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) notes that young carers are 1.5 times more likely to have special educational needs, a disability or long-term illness themselves.

How to improve support for young carers?

The Carers Trust has made a series of recommendations for schools, GPs, health and social care services, and young carer and young adult carer support services, on actions they should take to improve the information and support available to young carers. These include that schools should establish a clear framework of support for young adult carers, which is embedded into the school’s policies and communicated to parents.

Our briefing also highlights examples of organisations who provide support and respite services for young carers, such as the Children’s Society’s Young Carers in Focus (YCiF) project. Part of the Include programme, this service includes the provision of a dedicated social networking site for young carers and those working with them, as well as specialist weekends, which offer young carers the chance to build skills and knowledge across a wide range of topics, including different potential future professions.

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The quest to find young carers: Carers Week 2014

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Cooking Togetherby Steven McGinty

This week, throughout the UK, there will be a host of events in support of Carers Week 2014. For the first time, the UK-wide annual awareness campaign is launching the Carers Week Quest, a new initiative to encourage improved collaborative working in local communities to reach out to carers.  It will also be the first time that the valuable role of #youngcarers is recognised, with the introduction of Young Carers Awareness Day on Friday. The theme for this year is ‘identifying carers’.  It is hoped that this week of events can help carers access the support they need, when they need it.  In support of #carersweek, Idox has decided to review the literature on young carers. Continue reading →