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Young carers

Accessing support for young carers

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    Introduction

    If you are aged 17 or younger and you regularly help to look after a parent or guardian, you might be what is known as a young carer. We can help support young carers to manage both their caring responsibilities and to look after their own everyday life needs.

    Find out what support is available for carers aged 18 or over

    Are you a young carer?

    This will help you know if you're not sure:

    Who can get support

    We may be able to support you if you are aged 17 or under and care for someone in your family who:

    • lives in the East Riding
    • has care needs because of one or more of the following. They:
      • are older and/or frail
      • have an illness
      • have a physical and/or learning disability
      • have mental health issues
      • have problems with drugs and/or alcohol.

    What support is available

    There are a range of support services available to you, both in your local community and provided by, or on behalf of, the council.

    Our carer's support service can provide information on:

    • your rights as a carer
    • financial and legal matters
    • carer assessments and services in the East Riding
    • local, regional and national support groups
    • health-related issues
    • other organisations and services that may be useful to you.

    Our aim is to support you to choose the services that best suit your needs.

    Accessing support

    Contact carer support service

    Not sure what support you need, or just have a question to ask?

    Our carer’s support service can provide information on:

    • your rights as a carer
    • financial and legal matters
    • carer assessments and services in the East Riding
    • local, regional and national support groups
    • health-related issues
    • other organisations and services that may be useful to you

    How to access this service

    Contact our carer support service:

    Email family.help.young.carers@eastriding.gov.uk

    Opening hours:

    Monday to Thursday, 9am - 5pm Friday, 9am - 4.30pm

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    Types of young carer

    You may have a caring role because:

    • a parent or guardian has care needs and there is no one else in the household to look after them
    • someone else in the household, such as another parent or your brother or sister is the main carer but:
      • they are often away from the home for long time periods working to support your family
      • they have become unwell, are suffering mental health problems, or are using alcohol, drugs or other substances to cope - you may be looking after them too
      • you regularly help them with some of the caring tasks.

    What a young carer does

    Most young people are asked to contribute to household chores in their family home, but as a young carer, you might have more than usual, or take on tasks that adults usually handle. Tasks you may help with include:

    • cooking, cleaning, shopping or other household tasks
    • helping someone to walk and other physical care tasks
    • washing, dressing, eating and other personal care tasks
    • support someone emotionally, such as when they have an addiction
    • collecting prescriptions or giving medicine
    • interpreting, if the person you care for has a hearing or speech impairment, or they do not use English as a first language
    • looking after other family members, such as brothers and sisters.

    You may not feel that these are tasks that you shouldn’t be doing at your age as you’ll be used to doing them, and you’ll be happy to help the person you care for. But it is important that this work you are carrying out is recognised as it may:

    • affect your schoolwork
    • mean that you attend school less than you should
    • make you physically unwell
    • affect your mental health
    • prevent you from doing things that other people your age are doing.

    Step 1 - Finding out what will help you

    To make sure we understand what will help you, we’ll complete a young carer’s assessment. You’ll be asked about:

    • how caring is affecting your life
    • what you need help with
    • anything that you would like to be able to do in the future.

    This will help us to work out:

    • what support you need
    • whether you can access this support in your local community (often these are free services)
    • if you need access to any services run by us
    • the cost of any support you require.

    Step 2 - Planning your support

    We’ll help you to write up a support plan that will detail the support you need to achieve your goals, and how you will access that support. It could include:

    • details of local community services or online resources than can help
    • someone to support you 1 to 1, for example while you are at school
    • access to organised activities and sessions with other young carers
    • training to help you understand the condition of the person you care for and what you can do to help meet their specific needs.

    Step 3 - Request an assessment

    If you would like help from us, please request a young carer’s assessment.

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