Young Carers Action Day
News article from March 16, 2022
School-Home Support helps young carers improve their school attendance
Today, 16th March 2022 is Young Carers Action Day.
It’s a day for raising public awareness of young carers and young adult carers, the pressures and challenges they face, and the incredible contribution they make by caring for their family members and friends . It is also a day to call for more action to support young and young adult carers and give them the extra bit of help they need to reach their potential in other areas of their lives.
Young carers can be defined as a child or young person under the age of 18 who provides care in, or outside of, the family home for someone who is physically or mentally ill, disabled, or misusing drugs or alcohol. Evidence shows that having caring responsible for caring for a parent,carer or family member within the family home, can impact a child’s development, emotional wellbeing, school attendance, and social lives,
A report completed by Lewisham Local Authority surveyed 617 young carers and found that 33% provided 11-20 hours of care per week while 68% provided domestic support in the home. At school, attendance, behaviour, and achievement can all be affected by a young person’s caring duties so it is important that they are given the right support and are identified as early as possible.
At School-Home Support, we work hard with schools, local authorities and other children’s settings, to provide bespoke support to young carers and their families both in and out of school.. By tackling these underlying barriers to education we improve the life chances of children.
The current group of young carers our Practitioners are currently working with have seen their school attendance rise on average by 10% after working with our practitioners for seven months. That is three extra weeks in school, ready to learn.
Young Carers Action Day is being led by the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WYHCP), Working with young carers themselves, WYHCP have produced a support app that is available to download. It provides free advice on topics like mental health, education, emergency planning, carer skills and relationships. For more details, please visit the WYHCP web page.