Teesside young carer opens up about balancing duties and school
It's Young Carers Action Day
A young carer in Teesside is opening up about the difficulties of balancing home life, education, and being social.
It's as there are estimated to be over one million young carers aged up to 17 in the UK.
The alarming effect caring is having on huge numbers of young carers’ education and learning in regions were laid bare in official data from the Department of Education last autumn. The Department of Education defines each region by the local authorities.
It's Young Carers Action Day today, an annual event that raises public awareness of young carers, the challenges they face and the extra support they need to balance their caring responsibilities with learning and training. The day is led by Carers Trust in collaboration with its network of 135 local services that support carers.
They say The futures of hundreds of thousands of young carers are at risk, according to data that reveals how growing caring responsibilities are leading to a widening education attainment gap between young carers and their peers.
North East
• Fewer than half (46%) of young carers in the North East left secondary school with 5 GCSE passes including English and Maths. Young carers from the North East are 22% less likely than their peers without caring responsibilities to achieve this academic milestone.
• Just over half of young carers (57%) in the North East left primary school this year with the expected standard of reading, writing and Maths.
• Just over half of young carers in the North East (52%) finished school with GCSE passes in English and Maths, compared with 63% of their peers without caring responsibilities.
16 year-old Ashton Craigs from Hartlepool looks after his mum and siblings and he said: "I help get my siblings ready for school sometimes, or I grab them food. It's just a lot more babysitting, helping clean up a lot, helping them move stuff around the house. And while like my mum cooks or something, either I help her cook or I have to babysit my siblings.
"It's very difficult. but there is a lot of support based around that, like young carers and stuff. But other than that, there's not really a good way to balance it. There's just not a lot of time to figure out my own sort of stuff.
"People will still find it weird that you have to take care of your family, not the other way around. There's also schools that don't recognise young carers as like a being a young carer, they don't recognise it as an excuse for anything and they won't like take off any pressure.
"There's not much support within schools. There's not a lot of support going around.
As part of Young Carers Action Day, he added that having charities like Hartlepool Carers is vital in communities:
"We have some activities, for example, like cooking or even just a bit of football. And a lot of the time, another group would come in and also assist us on that. So we've got like youthies coming in, telling us that there's more support. We've got like some open evenings with like universities and colleges, they come in.
"You get the praise that, of course, we deserve for taking care of families and other people. It's a nice little break.
"It's good to relax and get on with people who also understand what you went through. And it's also good for awareness.
"You know, some people may not realise they're young carers and some people who are young carers find it difficult to reach out."
Fair Futures for Young Carers
The theme this year is 'Fair Futures for Young Carers', and as part of this, the Carers Trust is calling on all Governments to require a Young Carer Lead in every school, college and university across the UK to support them throughout their education as recent data has revealed a widening attainment gap between young carers and their peers.
Andy McGowan, Policy and Practice Manager, at Carers Trust said:
“The evidence is clear. Because of caring responsibilities at home, far too many young carers are missing out on learning opportunities available to their friends without a caring role.
“Having a Young Carer Lead to look out for young carers, being aware of the challenges they face at home and helping them get the support they need is a relatively simple way for schools to make a massive difference for young carers. We have seen young carers’ opportunities transformed thanks to Young Carer Leads understanding a young carer’s individual circumstances at home and how to manage this alongside learning at school and homework and ensuring there is support available across the school.
“This is why all education settings should have a lead for young carers. At Carers Trust we’re already working with hundreds of schools. And thanks to National Lottery players, Carers Trust has received almost £5 million from The National Lottery Community Fund. The funding will be used to work with local carer services to support young carers in 3,000 schools and colleges across England, Scotland and Wales.”
On Young Carers Action Day, and beyond, Carers Trust is also calling for any statutory ban on mobile phones in schools to include exemptions, where appropriate, for young carers who need to be in contact with the person they care for at school, when required.
This call has been echoed by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). Its SEND and Inclusion Specialist, Margaret Mulholland, said:
“ASCL supports schools being phone-free during the school day, but we are clear that any potential legislation must preserve flexibilities to meet the needs of pupils with significant caring responsibilities at home.
“For young carers, the ability to check-in with their family or respond quickly to concerns about a parent’s health can reduce anxiety and help them focus on learning. It is therefore essential that schools retain the autonomy to manage these situations through agreed arrangements rather than this flexibility being removed by a blanket ban.
“We urge policymakers to ensure that any future legislation recognises the importance of an appropriate exemption for young carers.”