Young Carers Awareness Day is a national day of recognition for the 700,000 young carers in the UK, who work around the clock providing care and support to their family member. Young carers are children and young people who provide unpaid carer to a family member who is physically or mentally ill, disabled or misuses alcohol and/or drugs.
Suffolk Family Carers is excited to have in the pipeline a programme of activity to share as the big day – 25th January approaches. We will be recognising the schools and colleges across Suffolk that pro-actively provide young carer sensitive practices by presenting them with our Young Carers Schools Award. Young carers will be sharing their stories via our social media campaign and we will be holding a fun play session for our under 9’s at Billy Beez in Ipswich.
Emily Meadows, Young Carers Team Manager said: “We want to use Young Carers Awareness Day to get everyone talking about the thousands of young carers who are so often unidentified, and who miss out on vital services and support that they could benefit from. We know that caring has a significant impact on many young people, especially their physical and mental health, social interactions, educational outcomes and employment opportunities. Our team supports young people to reduce excessive caring and ensures that they have a chance to be children, by receiving opportunities to have a break from their caring role, relax and make new friends and develop successful transitions into adulthood.”
By raising awareness and understanding of young carers, children as young as 5 years old with caring responsibilities, can be more easily identified. Enabling them and their families to access the right help and support.
For support, information and advice contact Suffolk Family Carers
