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SECRET CARERS 'MISS OUT' ON A CHILDHOOD
Report’s concerns over ‘invisible’ youngsters who look after parents
HUNDREDS of children who are forced to look after their parents are being robbed of their childhoods, a new report has claimed.
The number of hidden child carers in Westminster schools who are shouldering gruelling responsibilities like cooking, dressing and washing their parents is estimated at more than 400.
They are more likely to suffer bullying, achieve poorer exam scores, be excluded from school and to suffer from isolation.
One child said “I can’t do things other kids do”, another said he was “missing out on childhood”.
The findings, which will send shockwaves through school staff rooms across the borough, have emerged from an investigation into care services by the council’s children and young people policy and scrutiny committee.
While there are 101 youngsters registered with the council’s Young Carers Service, census data estimated that the total figure is around 550 – meaning an invisible population of vulnerable children are slipping under the radar, and receiving no support from the state. Many are likely to live in families affected by ?substance misuse or are acting as nurses for mentally ill parents.
The committee has issued recommendations to tackle the problem. These include increased information sharing between GP services and the council, creating a pastoral support position in every secondary school, and reaching out to the disproportionate number of carers from ethnic minorities, most pressingly in the Bangladeshi community.
The report says: “At present the Westminster Young Carers Service works with 101 young carers. The 2001 census data estimated that there were 400 young carers in Westminster. Based on population growth since 2001, that number would be 548 as of 2008.
“The objective of the carers strategy was to prevent young carers taking up inappropriate caring roles, which might significantly affect the development of the young person, and to offer them support. Westminster’s young carers highlighted for members the issues that affect them in their daily lives. They worry that they have a lack of time and financial resources to learn, socialise and to access the opportunities other young people have.”
Councillor Nickie Aiken, who chaired the committee, said: “It is clear that across the UK a large number of young people in our communities are fulfilling caring roles, sometimes to a degree that may be detrimental to their development and without appropriate support. We hope that this report and the work that follows will make a contribution to improving the welfare and support available to Westminster’s young carers.” |
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