More help for young carers

Whether you’re a young carer or a young adult carer, friends and relatives are often the first people to turn to when you have a problem.

Talking things through with the people closest to you can be really helpful. If you find it hard to talk to others, try to write your thoughts in a diary, poem or letter first. This can help to make sense of how you’re feeling, before getting help.

Young Carers Support

There are young carers support services across the UK. You can find out where your nearest service is from your local council if you live in England, Scotland or Wales, or from your Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland.

They should be able to tell you how to contact your local young carers support service. They should also explain how to get your needs assessed and whether more help is available for the person you look after.

You could also visit our Carers Services Near You page, which has details of young carer services run by our network of local carer organisations across the UK.

If you live in England, this map from The Children’s Society gives details of other young carer services, including those run by councils or young people’s organisations. You can find more information about your local support in Northern Ireland.

Help from teachers and other school staff 

Your teachers are there to help you to get the most out of school. They can be good people for you to speak to about any problems you have. If you're missing lessons to help look after someone at home or struggling to get your work in on time, talk to a teacher about what you do at home.

This will help them to understand what is happening and give you more help. As a young carer, you might find school a place where you can forget about your caring responsibilities and feel "normal" for a while.

But it can also be a place where you're under extra pressure or where people don’t understand what your life is like outside school. It can sometimes be hard to juggle all your caring responsibilities with the demands of teachers, friends and homework.

Keeping up to date with schoolwork 

You might not want your school to know you're caring for someone. But if they don’t know about your situation, it will be difficult for teachers to understand if you struggle to keep up in class or don’t do your homework. It's a good idea to let at least one teacher that you trust know that you're a carer.

You might find it difficult to talk about your home life with a teacher, so you could ask someone in your family to write to the school, perhaps to the head of year.

If you're having trouble with school or homework, your teachers may offer extra time for schoolwork.

Homework clubs and support at school

There are lots of ways your school can help. You could be allowed to use a phone during breaks and lunchtime so you can check on the person you're looking after.

The school could also put you in touch with your local young carers service or get a young carers worker to talk to you. Some schools run lunchtime groups or homework support groups for young carers. If your school does not do this, you could suggest it to your teachers.

Nobody wants to get into trouble at school. If teachers know you're a carer they may be more sympathetic to your problems, for example if you’re often late to school.

But it will not necessarily stop you being disciplined if you break the rules. If you're given detention, you could ask to have it during lunchtime rather than after school because of your caring responsibilities.

Missing school  

You may feel you have to miss school to care for someone. But missing school can affect your whole future. Try to get help as quickly as possible so the situation does not go on for a long time.

A GP, nurse, social worker or another person whose job is to help the person you look after should be able to organise more support at home to help you to concentrate on school or college. 

Friends and your social life 

As a young carer, you may miss out on opportunities to have fun and spend time with your friends and classmates. You may feel isolated from your friends because you don’t have as much free time as them.

Being a young carer can make you stand out from other people, or you may find that you do not get included in certain activities.

It's important to get the help you need so that you have time to do the things you want to do and be with your friends.

If possible, put aside some time each day to do something you enjoy. Your local young carers project or carers centre may be able to help. 

Are you being bullied? 

Bullying can include being deliberately left out of activities or groups, as well as being called names, hit, kicked, punched or threatened.

Young carers are sometimes bullied because the person they care for is ill or disabled, or because they cannot always do the things other young people can. Some people are bullied for no reason.

In fact, nearly half of children and young people say they've been bullied at school. Even adults get bullied. It's natural to feel sad, angry or scared if you're being bullied. But remember, there are ways to deal with the problem.

So you should always tell a teacher or another adult that you trust about what is happening so that it can be dealt with and stopped.

Meet other young carers 

Meeting up with other young carers is a great way to make new friends, have some fun and share some of your worries with people in similar situations to your own.

Young carers projects can help you have a break from home, and meeting other young carers can help you to relax. Young carers projects may offer evening clubs, weekends away, days out and even holidays, as well as friendly advice and information for you and for your family. 

Other ways to get help and advice

Childline 

Childline is a free and confidential telephone helpline for children, available by calling 0800 11 11.  You can talk to someone from Childline who may be able to give you advice and get you help. They will not tell anyone that you have called unless they think you or someone else is at risk of harm. 

Sidekick

Sidekick is an anonymous and confidential text service for young carers aged between 13 and 18 in the UK.  Young people can message any time, about anything that's bothering them. Sidekick’s friendly team will find the answer and reply within 24 hours.