What is a Young Carer
Anyone who is under the age of 18 who has to look after a relative who is either disabled, ill, mentally ill or who has an alcohol or drug problem.
Most of these Support For Child Carrers look after their younger siblings or one of their parents. They will be the ones that do jobs around the home, such as cleaning, cooking, and helping people to move around and get dressed. Some will need to give physical support to others in the family and will often need to give emotional support as well.
The Impact of Caring on Children
Young adults and children should not need to be doing this and it can affect their development. Certain things like bathing other people, giving medicine, physically lifting someone, needing to be there for emotional support, and dealing with the family budget can take a toll on these young carers.
Possible School Issues
These young carers could be bullied at school because of what they have to do at home. These kids may not have enough time in a day to look after themselves, and may also be very withdrawn. They may also find that they cannot complete all their homework all the time because of the responsibilities that they have in the home. They often find it difficult to keep up with projects, especially when more than one needs to be done at the same time. They can also find that they are not allowed to keep a check on the people they are caring for because they cannot use their phones at school. Often they will not be able to go on trips with the school or do extramural activities after school.
Support For Child Carers, schools need to take these children’s needs into account because there is often no other solution for the families. There are support groups that offer these kids support and opportunities that they would otherwise not have access to.
Young carers need to know that there is someone who they can talk to in case they need to, or in the case of an emergency that they cannot deal with. They also need someone that can help them if their only parent ends up in the hospital, or worse.
It is vital that everyone in the community makes sure that there is support for these young kids so they can live their best lives.