Being a young carer

Being a young carer to a dementia patient can be a challenging yet fulfilling role. The requirements on you as a young carer, may cause you to miss out on life experiences, or even to move from a full time education setting, to part time. You may be faced with needing to get a job to help support the person you are looking after. The definition of a young carer relates to anyone under 18, although in some instances it does cover up to 25 year olds, who provides emotional and physical support to a person. You may not even class yourself as a young carer, but if you are providing support to someone because they are unable to do things for themselves, or looking after a younger sibling(s) as well as supporting your parent, it is likely that you are carrying out the role of a carer. As a young carer you have some legal rights, in particular to information and to an assessment from your local council. Contact social services to find out more.

What support is available? 

Even though you may be classed as a young carer, your duties are no less to any carer and therefore you are entitled to receive support for the caring duties that you carry out. This could  be in the form of benefit payments, help with shopping or cleaning services. You may be able to get help with caring, to enable you to undertake part time study for example. 

There are plenty of care resources available to you and you are entitled to various assessments from social services. These assessments identify if you need any support with providing care and how to access those services. They can also give you more information on benefits that you may be able to claim. More details on these are available in our article here.

As a young carer, caring should not interfere with you going to school if you are under 16, nor should you be carrying out the same caring services as an adult carer.  

Emotions

One of the challenges as a young carer, is the range of emotions that you feel and have to process at an age when you are still developing and growing yourself. The expectation and pressure to be responsible for someone else’s care can be incredibly challenging and in particular the effect that this can have on your own mental health. One thing that carer’s often neglect, is their own health. Whether that is due to time pressure or expectation to be there for someone else. What is very important, is to ensure that you make time for you. One idea is to gain access to local community groups that are run for young carers of dementia patients. You can also engage with people in a similar position via groups and organisations on social media. These groups can put you in touch with other young carers to help you to feel less isolated. 

As with any mental pressure, it is important to continue to talk to people, to be able to discuss your emotions and how you are feeling. As noted, being a carer can be rewarding, but the impact on you socially can make you feel distanced from your peers who are not in the same situation as you are at home. 

There are a number of charities which provide support for young people who are caring for people with dementia. These contain access to community services and groups of people in similar situations, to help you to discuss your situation with people in a similar set up.