What is a young carer?
Many people do not know what a young carer is, unless they have either been a young carer themselves or they know a young carer personally, or professionally. Therefore, there’s no wonder that there are a lot of misconceptions about being a young carer.
A young carer is a child or young person who has a significant role in looking after someone in their family.
They may have practical caring responsibilities and, or be emotionally affected by a family member’s care needs. Here are a few common misconceptions that young carers have expressed that they hear often:
Misconception 1: To be a young carer you must care for someone with a physical illness
A young carer is a person under 18, who cares for a parent, sibling or other family member due to an illness, impairment, or disability. This can be a mental or physical illness and can include substance misuse.
It is estimated that there are over 50,000 young carers in the UK caring for a person with a mental illness. – The Children’s Society. However, many young carers, caring for a loved one with a mental health condition are ‘hidden’ due to the ‘invisibility’ of caring for someone with a mental illness. This inevitably creates a barrier to getting parents with mental health, and their children’s, health and social care needs addressed.
Misconception 2: All young carers are isolated and have no life outside of caring
Some young carers have strong networks of support, are very resilient, self motivated, have good life skills early on, and are able to cope well with looking after a family member’s health in addition to schoolwork and maintaining relationships with friends.
Keeping up with schoolwork and having a social life alongside a caring role can be tricky, so achieving a good balance between school, relationships with friends, alongside caring is vital in enabling young carers to live their lives to the fullest.
To help young carers achieve this, Carers First offers respite support through peer groups, and activities, fun and engaging experiences through trips and days out, which young carers would otherwise not usually get the chance to do. Carers First hopes that this helps young carers to feel less alone, and more connected to life outside of caring.
Misconception 3: Young carers are really babysitters, teenage mums or children who help out at home with the chores such as emptying the dishwasher or mowing the lawn
The type of care given by young carers can vary considerably, but caring for someone isn’t just about helping out with household chores. Young carers are caring for family members who otherwise couldn’t manage without the young carers help and are often caring for family members with multiple conditions and varying complex needs.
Young carers may have to learn how to nurse their family member, provide intimate care such as bathing and dressing, complete practical tasks like
cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing the family budget, looking after prescriptions, or provide physical care such as manual handling. This may also be in addition to providing care for younger brothers and sisters and supporting family members emotionally.
Being a young carer also impacts greatly on young carers own mental health. With Anxiety being a particular problem among young carers, due to becoming isolated and having fear of being different, it’s so important that young carers aren’t overlooked.
The life of a young carer can be very challenging. Young carers may often stay at home a lot to provide emotional support and look after their younger siblings, often missing out on life and milestone experiences with peers.
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