Young carers

A young carer is someone under 18 who looks after a parent or another family member. They take on physical and emotional duties that adults usually handle. It can feel scary and isolating.

Our support helps young carers come to terms with their parent's or other family member’s illness or condition. We teach them how to cope, and guide them to build positive relationships outside the family.

We help young carers plan for the future, by making sure they can access adult services when they’re 18.

We make sure young carers get regular breaks, and can join in fun activities with other young people. Events, outings and meet-ups are chance to pause responsibilities and enjoy being a child for a few hours. This is really important to resilience and mental wellbeing.

We offer practical and emotional support to ensure young carers enjoy and achieve, just like their peers.

We include parents and families in the needs assessment, and make sure they can access advice, support and signposting. This helps ease the pressure on young carers. We also run events for parents, and outings families can enjoy together.

Sidekick is an anonymous and confidential text service for young carers aged 13-18 in the UK.

Young people can message any time, about anything that's bothering them. Our friendly team will find the answer and reply within 24 hours.

Many young carers aren’t getting help because they don’t know they are carers. With Sidekick, we’re bridging that gap – offering support beyond existing services.

We work in partnership with schools, social care, health services, GPs and voluntary sector organisations to make sure young carers know what support is out there. This early identification means they know someone is looking out for them – they don’t have to cope alone.

We support teachers and schools working with young carers. And we play a role in advocacy and awareness raising.