What is a young carer?
Carers from age 5 to 18 are known as young carers and often take on practical
and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.
The tasks undertaken 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.
A young carer may do some or all of the following:
- Practical tasks, such as cooking, housework and shopping.
- Physical care, such as lifting, helping a parent on stairs or with physiotherapy.
- Personal care, such as dressing, washing, helping with toileting needs.
- Managing the family budget, collecting benefits and prescriptions.
- Administering medication.
- Looking after or “parenting” younger siblings.
- Emotional support.
- Interpreting, due to a hearing or speech impairment or because English is not the
family’s first language. - Some young carers may undertake high levels of care, whereas for others it may
be frequent low levels of care. Either can impact heavily on a child or young
person
What happens when you join our service?
- We will arrange a time and place where we can meet up and talk about what your
needs are. - Speaking to us does not mean that you will be taken into care or that your parents
will be in trouble. We are here to offer advice, support and information for you and
your family. - All information you share with us is confidential (unless you are at risk of harm).
This means that we won’t tell anyone like parents, teachers, social workers or
friends without talking to you about it first. - We just need your parent or guardian to sign a consent form so that you will be
able to come out with us.
What do Young Carers’ Family Support Workers do?
- Give advice and support if you have any problems such as personal or health
problems or bullying that you want to talk about in confidence. - Organise free events and activities so you can get out and enjoy yourself and
also meet other young carers who may be going through a similar experience to
you. - If you have problems with school, then we can talk to your school to help them
understand your situation and become more flexible with school work and
homework. - Help you with any problems you may have with social services or health
authorities. - Give you information about the condition of the person you care for, what their
medication does to them and details of other organisations who can help and
support you. - If you have any special hobbies or interests we can try and arrange for you to
continue with these. - Organise young carers’ help groups which may help with feelings of low self
esteem, anxiety or lack of confidence.
How you can get help from this service
If you have any problems or would just like someone to talk to in confidence then
either give one of our Young Carers’ Family Support Workers a call on 01253
393748, email them, or fill out the Contact Us Form on this website and someone
will contact you.
You can also download the Young Carers’ Referral Form then complete and return
this to us at: Blackpool Carers Centre, Beaverbrooks House, 147 Newton Drive, Blackpool FY3 8LZ.
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Carers’ Stories
Jack
Jack, age 11, was referred to our service due to his school identifying a possible caring role. He was also facing other struggles in and out of school with bullying which was impacting on his school work and he was socially isolated.
We undertook a young carers’ assessment which helped us to identify how he was coping with his caring role and other aspects of his life.
Following this, Jack was given one to one support and encouraged to attend young carers’ groups and activities. We also worked closely with his school and parents to support with the bullying issues.
Jack has now moved school with support from us. He is more settled and is able to concentrate in class, so his work has improved. He continues to attend young carers’ groups and activities and has made lots of friends which have carried on outside of the organisation.
He is also receiving ongoing support from Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) following a referral.