Young Adult Carers in the UK - The Princess Royal Trust for Carers

Schools and FE colleges
Chapter 11 Looking forward: meeting the needs and service development for carers aged 16-24 in transition
Alongside being a place of teaching and learning, schools and FE colleges can also be an
important source of respite and sanctuary for young carers, giving them valued opportunities
for developing peer networks and relationships, social skills and other interests. Where young
carers are recognised and treated respectfully by supportive teachers, this is valued highly
by young carers. Where they are ignored, or, at worst ‘punished’ for caring within schools,
then this can have significant negative outcomes both in the short and longer-term,
including for some carers challenging behaviour and/or disengagement with school and
learning. Developing a supportive environment for young carers within schools is often
left to individual teachers, personality and chance rather than being a matter of policy
or procedure. Schools need to think about how they can identify and help young carers in
a supportive way, including strategies for preventing bullying of young carers, to maximise
positive educational outcomes and provide the respite and space that many young carers
want from their school. There is some evidence that young carers are more comfortable in an
FE environment than at school because of the ethos and approach, and sensitivity of FE staff.
Friends, relationships and leisure
Forming meaningful attachments and friendships are a necessary component of healthy
psychosocial development and are resilience promoting. Almost every young carer aged
16 and 17 in our sample wanted to go out more and make friends but this was often
constrained by their caring roles and the growing expectations on them to provide more
care or take on more responsibility as they got older. The issue of transport is also relevant
here as many young carers and their families are reliant on public transport for getting out.
Some young carers keep their caring roles secret from existing friends; others choose their
friends carefully – making bonds only with people they think will be understanding, sensitive
and respectful. Some young carers are looking to make intimate relationships at this age and
some project workers expressed concern that certain young carers were sexually vulnerable
while others were vulnerable to misuse of alcohol or drugs. The extent to which these
vulnerabilities differ from other young people of this age is unknown.
Young carers projects had become a key source of friendships for every young carer in
our focus groups. Project activities have given them an opportunity to make meaningful
friendships and attachments with people who ‘understand’ because of a shared, common
experience. Consequently, when young carers become ineligible to attend these projects
due to their age, the loss of companionship is experienced in painful ways. If projects have
become sources for developing meaningful friendships, then service providers and project
workers need to consider how (a) membership of a project can end without causing ‘loss’
for young carers; (b) how friendships can be sustained; (c) how projects can operate
without causing ‘dependency’. These issues are explored in more detail later in this chapter.
Leaving home and independence
Young carers aged 16 and 17 need information about their options for leaving home.
Like many young people of this age, they will not want to leave home at this stage in their
lives, and for young carers this is made more complex because of their caring responsibilities
and the ‘positives’ they attach to caring. However, for some, especially those who want to
get jobs or apprenticeships or go to university, there is a real issue about whether they can
leave home to fulfil these aspirations and ambitions. Their caring responsibilities place them
at a disadvantage compared with other young people of the same age and aspirations.
The Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 (England and Wales), is intended to give carers,
through an assessment, an equal opportunity to access paid work, education and leisure
(see Box 11.5). Some young carers in our sample were clearly disadvantaged by their
caring roles in terms of them having unequal opportunities to access paid work and
further/higher education.
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