What Support in Devon & Cornwall is Available for Young Carers?
Young Carers Awareness Day is set on by the carers trust every year, and we wanted to highlight the support that is available to young carers in the local area. The aim of Young Carers Awareness Day is to highlight some of the pressures that young carers are under, as well as ways that communities can help to make life easier for them.
Did you know that across the UK there are over 700,000 young carers under the age of 18 who care for full-time or help to care for a disabled or sick relative? This could be a parent, grandparent, or sibling - any family member for that matter. According to Carers Trust, many infant young carers (children between the ages of five and ten years old) are getting up in the night to help care for a sick family member.
There are around 10,000 infant young carers between the ages of five and seven in the UK who are providing unpaid care to a family member. It has been found that many of these carers go unnoticed and don’t have access to the help and support that they need.
Carers Trust found that 46% of young carers are getting up in the night to care for a family member, and missing out on their own sleep because of this. They also found that 80% of young carers are carrying out care duties everyday or most days of the week. While one in ten young carers go to the shops unaccompanied to buy essentials for the family. With three quarters of these kids also providing emotional support to their family member with a disability or illness by cheering them up when they feel down.
With those statistics in mind, the question is what support is available to young carers in Devon and Cornwall?
What support is there in Devon?
Devon Young Carers is a support service in Devon that offers help, guidance and varying levels of support to young carers across Devon. This includes providing support groups for young carers - there are groups held for Exeter and East Devon, Mid Devon, Northern Devon, and South Hams and West Devon. There are young carers drop-in sessions, where young carers can go for support and to spend time with other children in the same position as them.
As part of the services offered by Devon Young Carers, Westbank offers additional support to young carers across Devon. The support offered here includes emotional and wellness support, help with social and educational development, and a range of social activities made just for young carers. This includes after school activities, school holiday days out, and special activities made to encourage family time.
Many schools across Devon also offer specialist support to young carers as part of their pastoral care service. This is important, because according to Carers Trust, 53 percent of young adult carers have problems coping with school work, with 60 percent of these carers struggling to meet deadlines and keep up to date with school work.
What support is available in Cornwall?
Kernow Young Carers is an Action for Children project that is committed to working with young carers to help make the role of being a carer a more positive one. They offer support, guidance and information, along with activities, short trips, and training and educational sessions.
Kernow Carers Service is a support service for carers of all ages delivered by Cornwall Council, Action for Children and Cornwall Rural Community Charity, along with Cornwall’s Family Information Service. The aim of this service, which was only recently launched, is to provide carers of all ages, including young carers with the high-quality support that they need.
What support is available nationwide?
In addition to the support that is offered regionally, there are also various charities operating across the UK that provide help and support to young carers. These services include:
Connects & Co - Helping Young Carers
KIDS - Young Carers
Spurgeons - Young Carers
Action for children - Supporting young carers
