Young Carers
definition
A young carer is someone under 18 who helps look after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled, has a mental health condition or misuses drugs or alcohol
Zahra is 10 years old and she’s been a carer for most of her life. She lives in South East London with her mum and younger brother.
She likes making computer games, cooking breakfast, playing in the garden on her trampoline, creating videos and her favourite band is Little Mix
51% of young carers look after a sibling¹
There are more than 800,000 young carers across the country²
Zahra has moderate to severe atopic eczema³
Zahra likes sitting on top of her playhouse looking out at the train tracks
She has suffered from bullying. 68% of young carers are bullied in schools⁴
I asked Zahra what she wants people to know about her, she replied “it’s really important to be positive and to remember there are people much worse off than you”
¹ The Children’s Society report, Hidden from View: Experiences of young carers in England https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/hidden_from_view_final.pdf
² Children’s Society website, September 2019
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/helping-children/young-carers
³ Psychoneuroimmunology of Psychological Stress and Atopic Dermatitis: Pathophysiologic and Therapeutic Updates by Andrea L. SUÁREZ, Jamison D. FERAMISCO, [...], and Martin STEINHOFF
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3704139/#!po=0.595238Carers.org website August 2019, https://carers.org/key-facts-about-carers-and-people-they-care
⁴ Key facts about carers and the people they care for, Carers Trust website, July 2019 https://carers.org/key-facts-about-carers-and-people-they-care