Programme launched in Suffolk to help young carers in schools
As many as 1 in 12 pupils could be a young carer
Last updated 20th Jun 2022
Young carers in Suffolk are due to get more support from their school thanks to a new programme being launched in the county.
The Carers Trust and The Children's Society have come up with The Young Carers in Schools (YCiS).
It's a programme to help schools be more aware of which pupils are carers and how they can provide more help and support.
A 2004 Study by Dearden, C, Becker S showed 27% of young carers (aged 11-15) miss school or experience educational difficulties (40% where children care for a relative with drug or alcohol problems).
The Children's Society found in 2013 that these children have significantly lower educational attainment at GCSE level – the difference between nine Cs and nine Ds.
And a quarter of young carers said they were bullied at schools because of their caring role (Carers Trust, 2013).
We spoke to a 17 year old carer who has cared for his mum, who suffers from Bi-polar and schizophrenia, since he was 7 years old.
Although for the past 10 years he has focused on her mental health, he worries he will now also have to help her with her physical health.
His mother has been in the hospital for 9 weeks with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).
"At the minute it's mainly like the mental side of it, but I reckon it will turn to physical because my mum is currently in hospital.
"Her nerves and muscles are completely given up on her."
We asked him what it has been like being a carer: "It's been quite hard because once my mum got her mental illness she didn't really want to know me or anything.
"She didn't want to spend time with me or anything and I kind of had to mature a lot more.
"And going into school was quite hard as well because I struggled to make friends and everything because once they found out about my mum's illness, they didn't really wanna be friends with me anymore."
We asked him what he thought about the Young Carers in Schools (YCiS) programme: "I think it'll be helpful because, my mum has been in hospital for 9 weeks and I had a 12 week project for college and I was running really behind and one of my teachers was not understanding at all about the whole situation
"She was like 'you only have to do this.'
"It's very hard to do any college work, especially at home, then it is at college.
"And with everything that's been going on, it's very hard to concentrate on the work and the caring role.
"I think they should acknowledge us a bit more. I think personally that we go through a lot more than people who are not like a carer or a young carer.
"And I think most like young carers, they relate a lot more.
"And it would be nice if other people who are not a carer could understand a bit more."