Young Carers Awareness Day

Young Carers Awareness Day is an annual, national event, led by Carers Trust, and is taking place on 30 January 2020. 

Young Carers help to look after someone in their family, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs or alcohol. There are over 166,000 young carers in the UK, with recent research showing that one in five secondary school children may be a young carer. The average age for a young carer to be identified is 12, but for many, they have been caring for years before support is offered to them.

Caring for someone can be isolating, worrying and stressful and can have a negative impact on children’s experiences and education achievements, having a long term impact on their aspirations and life chances.

For Young Carers Awareness Day, we are asking schools and professionals who work with children and families to be aware of young carers. Look out for them. Identify them. Signpost them to the support that they need. We are linking with the national Carers Trust campaign Count Me In! Calling on education providers to do more to proactively identify young carers and to ensure that they receive the recognition and support they deserve.

Get involved with Young Carers Awareness Day on social media with #CountMeIn and #YoungCarersAwarenessDay.

A Young Carer is someone who helps to care for a family member, including a sibling, who has a physical disability or mental illness.

What sort of things might a young carer do?

¨ Practical tasks, such as cooking, housework and shopping.

¨ Physical care, such as helping someone out of bed.

¨ Emotional support, such as talking to someone who is distressed.

¨ Personal care, such as helping someone dress.

¨ Managing the family budget and collecting prescriptions.

¨ Help to administer medicine.

¨ Helping someone communicate.

¨ Looking after brothers and sisters.

Are young carers getting the mental health support they need?

 No.

Young carers often struggle to get support to address their mental health needs or the wider issues they experience as a carer.

Young carers can struggle to get appropriate mental health support that addresses the issues arising from their caring role.