Young Carers Awareness Day 31st January 2019
Young Carers Awareness Day is a national day of recognition for the UK’s young carers.
What is a young carer?
There are an estimated 800,000 young carers in the UK. Being a young carer (someone who is 18 and under) often means looking after a family member who is ill or helping them by looking after the other members of the family while they can’t.
What do they have to do?
For these young people, it’s a lot to take on. On top of their own needs, they have the responsibility of providing emotional and physical support to others, often missing out on a ‘normal’ childhood, missing school/college and not having their own health and wellbeing needs met.
We need to ensure that we recognise, support and help our young carers.
How can they get support?
There is a network of support both locally and nationally for young carers to help with advice as well as giving young carers somewhere to let off steam and just have a chat.
Want to know more?
If you are a young carer, know a young carer or recognise someone in your community who is a young carer let’s make sure we are supporting them.
Barnardos Kirklees – http://www.barnardos.org.uk/kirklees-ycs.htm
Carers Trust – https://carers.org/about-us/about-young-carers
#YoungCarersAwarenessDay #kirkleesyoungcarers #emotionalwellbeing