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6 AUGUST 2008

NO 1330

Concerns about young carers

The image of the young carer can be particularly emotive and induces concern in those who are aware of the responsibilities they may undertake. On one level, concerns about young carers focus on all the areas which have been highlighted as problematic for adult carers. These include lack of opportunity for social contacts, leisure time and education, and stress factors such as isolation, emotional problems, conflict of needs and overwork. In respect of children, however, these are seen as having much more serious implications for child development and for potential psychological damage.

In terms of development, young carers may be losing out on key opportunities which may affect their lives as adults. Social isolation may mean they do not develop social skills and have difficulties establishing relationships; spasmodic school attendance or lack of time for homework can result in poor academic achievement and lost opportunities in future years; physical strain may lead to health problems in later life, while emotional stress may lead to mental health problems. Furthermore, as children, they are much less able to choose whether or not they wish to be involved in caring activities and, even if they have expressed a choice, may not be making an informed decision.

Young carers have also indicated areas which are of concern to themselves which differ subtly from those of adult carers. The majority of children do not have caring responsibilities; therefore young carers feel different from their peers. It is likely that most young carers will not have friends or even acquaintances in similar situations which leads to the anxiety of feeling out of the ordinary and the belief that nobody understands them. Young carers also have less skills in dealing with authority figures than adults and indicate that they feel that professionals disregard them while paying attention to the adult with care needs (Aldridge and Becker 1993). A concern for the future is also apparent as young carers get older and begin to balance their caring responsibilities with the desire to have a life of their own.

Beyond lack of opportunities for appropriate development are concerns about the active damage that can occur to young carers or to young people who are part of particular households where someone requires care. This is not the family where a child cuts their time with their friends to look after a much loved parent, or where a young person is ashamed to invite friends to their generally happy home because of a grandparent with dementia, but rather situations which are potentially abusive to that child. The father with alcohol problems who is violent towards their mother; the deaf couple who wish to teach their hearing child at home so that they remain part of the deaf culture; the mother with a disability who feels that that her eight-year-old has a duty to provide as much care for her as she requires.

Interestingly, it is being found that a number of children with special needs within the education system appear to come from family backgrounds where there is an individual requiring care (Social Services Inspectorate 1995). Appropriate intervention with young carers, in the widest sense, appears essential in order that today's young carers do not become tomorrow's users of services.

CHRISTINE HERON

Heron, Christine. (1998). Working With Carers. London. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp.175-176.

REFERENCES

Aldridge, J. and Becker, S. (1993). Children Who Care: Inside the World of Young Carers. Loughborough. Loughborough University.

Social Services Inspectorate. (1995). Young Carers: Something to think about: Report of Four SSI Workshops May-July. Wtherby. Department of Health.

The International Child and Youth Care Network
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