National Picture for Young Carers

There are an estimated 175,000 Young Carers in the UK The average age of a Young Carer is 12. Young Carers provide care for a family member within the household, who could be for example:

• Parent
• Brother or Sister
• Grandparent

Why Care?

Caring is not seen as a job by many of our Young Carers, sometimes it’s expected and other times it’s out of choice. The situation they face on a day to day basis can be for any of these reasons:

• Drug Dependency
• Mental Health
• Alcohol Dependency
• Physical or Sensory impairment
• Long Term/Terminal illness
• Learning Disability

Caring Counts or Does It?

From the census carried out back in 2001 the information below shows the number of hours that Young Carers are providing, to a family member:

Local Picture for Young Carers

As the leading organisation for Young Carers in the county of Herefordshire, we are presently developing joint working initiatives with schools in the county. Our day to day work involves working with:

• Head teachers
• Learning Mentors
• School Nurses
• SENCO's

And other key professionals within the schools to help promote the awareness of Young Carer issues and the importance of joint partnerships with schools.

How Does This Work?

Our first job is to make contact with the school and set up a meeting to discuss the issues that affect Young Carers, and to ensure that the school fully understands the importance of our work. And secondly we need to identify a key professional within the school, who could be our nominated Link Worker for Young Carers in the school.

What Next?

• Arrange a whole school assembly (depending on age of pupils)
• Set up a drop in session for pupils to come and have a chat
• Allow every pupil to take a Young Carer leaflet home
• Attend any staff meetings to offer further support to teachers on how to best identify and support potential Young Carers

What Age Do we Support?

We support Young Carers from the age of 4 up to 25, and at present we are developing a New service for the 16-25 age group called YAC.

Resources

Here you will find useful information that you can download and print off. Those of you who are key professionals within the school will be able to access support information, that will assist you in the identification and support of Young Carers.

There is also a generic Professional information for all key professionals working with families, to enable you to have a "Whole Family Support" concept around supporting Young Carers.

Links to other organisations who can also provide help.