What is a Young Carer?
A Young Carer is a child under 18 years of age who looks after a member of the family who is sick, disabled or has a mental illness. This may mean they do shopping, cleaning, washing, or cooking; it may mean they give support or help emotionally too.
As many as 1 in 12 pupils in the UK could be a young carer. That’s the equivalent to 2 in every class!
What might a Young Carer’s role involve?
The tasks and level of caring undertaken by young carers can vary according to the nature of the illness or disability, the level and frequency of need for care, and the structure of the family as a whole.
Young Carers often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities which would normally be expected of an adult.
These can include:
- Practical tasks – cooking, housework and shopping.
- Physical care – lifting or helping someone use the stairs.
- Personal care – dressing, washing, helping with toileting needs.
- Emotional support – listening, calming, being present.
- Managing the family budget, collecting benefits and prescriptions.
- Medication management.
- Looking after younger siblings.
- Helping someone communicate.
How do UTC Plymouth support Young Carers?
- We have dedicated Young Carer Leads at UTC Plymouth who will identify children who may be a Young Carer
- We run a dedicated Support Group, which runs every other Monday Lunch time.
Support Group Dates:
09/01/23
23/01/23
06/02/23
27/02/23
13/03/23
27/03/23
24/04/23
22/05/23
19/06/23
03/07/23
17/07/23
- We ensure our Young Carers know where support is available to them in school
- We are linked with the Young Carers Trust and work closely with Barnardos
- We help our children understand the challenges and rewards faced by Young Carers, through assemblies and our pastoral programme
- We have regular drop in sessions
- We have regular extra-curricular activities for our Young Carers
- We have a Young Carers noticeboard which contains information and support