We must all care for young carers

Such an important issue that more people need to know about!

ybrumro

I had the pleasure of chairing a seminar last week on the issue of Young Carers. Some excellent presenters and a great audience with a lot of enthusiasm to do something about the issue.

I’ve been aware of the issue of Young Carers for a while but the event brought some of the challenges into focus for me.

First of all the numbers. In the last census in 2011 166,000 people in England were identified as young carers. That is 20% more than the comparable figure in the 2001 census. But it is also by all accounts a massive underestimate of the real picture and other surveys have suggested the numbers may be as great as 700,000. This reflects, in many cases, the reluctance of many young people to identify themselves as carers, in particular if they are caring for someone with mental health problems or substance misuse issues.

The…

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