Young carers

A young carer is someone under 18 who looks after a friend or family member who has a physical or mental health condition, or misuses drugs or alcohol. They may also look after brothers, sisters or elderly relatives. A young person aged 16-25 with caring responsibilities can also be known as a young adult carer.

As many as 1 in 5 children and young people in the UK are young carers. They may do extra jobs in and around the home, such as cooking, cleaning or helping someone get dressed and move around. They may also give physical and emotional help. Sometimes if families struggle financially, young carers often take on work in addition to their caring responsibilities and attending school or college.

Having caring responsibilities can be really difficult for some young people. They can feel stressed or anxious, miss school, have limited time to spend with friends, and feel they have to limit their plans for their own futures.

Being a young carer can be positive, too. They develop resilience through meeting the challenges they have experienced and often value the closeness they have with the people they care for.

While they may find their role as a young carer demanding, young carers rarely say that they want to give up caring altogether. However, many young carers benefit from having breaks and taking part in the activities, such as Scouts.

Supporting young carers in Scouts 

You may already know young people in Scouts who are carers, but young carers sometimes keep their relative’s health condition and their caring role a secret. Some families worry that their young person will be taken away if someone finds out about their caring role. Some young people start giving care at a very young age and don’t really realise they’re carers. Other young people become carers overnight.

Sometimes just knowing that someone understands their situation can make the difference between a young carer benefiting from Scout activities and a young carer not feeling able to take part. Here are some things you can do to support them:

• Checking in with a young person to ask how things are going can make a big difference.
• Make sure you create a positive environment about disability and that events involving parents and carers are accessible to disabled parents and carers, ideally offering transport to those that need it.
• Look out for young people who start to drop out of Scouts for no obvious reason and speak with the young person and the family if you think their caring responsibilities may be preventing them from attending if they want to.
• Be mindful that young carers may find it difficult to attend as regularly as they may want to. Be flexible to support them to participate when they can. Allow them to access their phone when on activities if they would like to; this means they can check their relative is OK if they’re worried.
• It can be helpful to encourage a young person and their family to engage with agencies who can support them. This may be a young carers service, school, a GP, another voluntary organisation or social services.

Always make sure you follow the Yellow Card Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults if you’re concerned about the welfare of a child or young person.