1. Young Carers Brenda Whinnett Project Manager Young Carers

2. Brenda Whinnett PROJECT MANAGER YOUNG CARERS
12 MONTH SECONDMENT TO WESTMINSTER
COMPLEX SERVICE REVIEW OF THE IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT, RECORDING AND SUPPORT OF YOUNG CARERS.
COLLATING/DEVELOPING OFFER FOR YOUNG CARERS (LA AND VOL SECTOR).
IDENTIFYING GAPS AND COORDINATING IMPROVEMENTS
PROJECT MANAGER YOUNG CARERS
WESTMINSTER, HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM AND KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA

3. Who is a Young Carer?

4. Caring may include helping to feed, bathe, clothe or giving medication.
Offering practical support (shopping, cooking, paying bills, booking and attending appointments and meetings)
or emotional support (being a ‘shoulder to cry on’, calming down, encouraging). .
YOUNG CARERS
“A young carer is child or young person under18 years old, who has a significant caring role for another person, who suffers from physical disability, mental health problems, substance misuse or any other debilitating or long term illness”. (THIS HAS A BIG IMPACT ON THEIR LIFE)
The term does not apply to the everyday and occasional help around the home that may often be expected of or given by children in families. The key features are that the caring responsibilities persist over time and are important in maintaining the health, safety or day to day well-being of the person cared for and/ or the wider family.
Every Young Carers Situation is Unique.
Factors which influence the extent and nature of Young Carers tasks and responsibilities include the illness/disability, family structure, gender, culture, religion and income

5. Potential Impact : Health issues; Emotional difficulties;
Lack of time for leisure and/or relationships;
Feeling different; Isolation.
Pressure, stress and anxiety
Problems with transition to adulthood;
Lack of recognition;
A feeling that they are not being listened to;
Financial pressures;
More vulnerable to self harm, CSE, mental health :
Potential Impact
As we seen from the videos young carers take pride in their caring responsibilities and that they are making a ‘positive contribution’ and having a caring responsibility isn’t necessarily negative. However, when the level of responsibility is inappropriate to their age and maturity, being a young carer can have detrimental effects including:

6. A Day In the Life of a young CARER

7. Many Young Carers remain ‘hidden’
Fear their family will be split up or taken into care.
May want to conceal their caring role (for various reasons)
They want to keep it a secret and/or embarrased about the person they are caring for.
They may not realise that they are carers or that life is different to their peers.
They have been ‘let down’ or felt unsupported by services before.
They see no positive outcomes resulting from telling their story.
There has been no ‘coherent offer’, so potential identifiers may not know where to refer
Many Young Carers remain ‘hidden’

8. Signs that a young person is a carer…
Coming into appointments with the person they are caring for during school hours.
Regular schools absences/lateness/sickness
Translating for parents/other relatives
Tiredness, distracted, withdrawn
Clothing or appearance may not be clean or tidy
Underachievement/problems with school work/behaviour
“If they’d realised I was a young carer earlier … I could have had earlier/better support and various things needn’t have happened.” – Young carer
Presenting issues may be for e.g. attendance or behaviour but when we start asking the right questions we start to understand

9. Difficulties with peer group, being bullied, limited social skills
Isolation, secretive about home life, embarrassed to take friends home
Parental disability/physical or mental illness, substance or alcohol misuse.
Sibling of a child/children that are registered disabled
Not attending after school activities or school trips.
Unable to complete home work on time
Withdrawn, over sensitive, low self esteem and confidence
False signs of maturity, from assuming adult roles
The signs that a child or young person may be a Young Carer may of course also be indicators of many other issues. However, knowing these signs can help professionals to build up a picture of a young person and ask the right questions to reveal that they are a young carer.

10. Tell me about your daily routine
Tell me about your daily routine? Do you have brother / sister what is your relationship like? Parents? What role do you have at home?
What is favourite subject at school and why? What subject doesn’t you like / find difficult? How are you generally getting on at school? What are your relationships like with your teachers?
Do you worry about any one at home when your not there?
What can I ask?
Intro to slide:
Some suggested questions from Young Carers include above:
Show examples from RBKC Early Help- Identifying a YC using the Family/My Star Assessment
MACA AND PANOC

11. Investigate the possibility of caring responsibilities if children are experiencing other problems e.g. at school, behaviour etc
Providing information about support for Young Carers
Support for Young Carers in schools e.g. young carers passports, use of phones, understanding, flexibility..
How Can Schools Help?

12. Can help identify young carers (through health needs of YP & person they care for).
Signpost/refer to relevant services
Give/signpost to accessible information on the care receivers needs/condition and how the Young Carer can support them
Support and advice for young carer re their own health and well-being and rights
Supporting professionals

13. Practitioners Can… ASC- call Westminster pre fix on 76541175
Support identification of YCs (asking right questions)
Assess the needs of YCs nd their families (collaboratively).
Advocacy, I.A.G, well being & emotional support
Help to identify appropriate support and opportunities
Links with ASC (practical support/whole family approach) Carers Network- (Transition)
Helping to ‘bridge the gap’ with schools and engage in positive activities.
Practitioners Can… ASC- call Westminster pre fix on

14. Young Carers in Schools Programme (YCisP)
YCiSP is a free England wide initiative developed by the Carers Trust and Children’s Society in Consultation with YCs. It helps schools to identify and support young carers with the intention of:
Giving children the best start in life
Raising educational attainment
Improving life chances
Now part of our EH traded offer to schools
Young Carers in Schools Programme (YCisP)
Gain national recognition for raising outcomes for young carers through the Young Carers in Schools Award.
Demonstrate to Ofsted that your school is meeting the needs of YCs, specifically mentioned in the Common Inspection Framework 2015.
Identify manageable steps to improve educational outcomes for this vulnerable pupil group.
Access additional support including advice, tools, templates and webinars

15. A baseline review enables schools to prioritise what to do next..
Ten step guide accompanied by:
Templates and exemplars,
Materials to raise staff awareness and Teaching resources,
Pupil noticeboard material,
How to guides to running effective support
Bronze, silver and Gold award scheme
How it works:
Tools accompanying the step by step guide are available online at
professionals.carers.org
Show the professionals resources on the ipad

16. How to get involved:
Find out more by visiting:
Identify an Operational and strategic lead
Reason for identifying both is if operational lead leaves school tends to fall through. Also suggest seeking some admin support for collating the evidence- in many cases teaching assistants.
Operational lead is to take a leading role in ensuring the procedures are agreed and implemented.

17. Support for Young Carers
Young Carers are a target group for Early Help. They can provide young carers with:
An assessment of their needs.
One to one support for young carers with a high level of need.
Advice to support young carers in their caring role.
Information about other support services and activities they engage in.
Support for Young Carers
*Required shift in thinking from seeing Young Carers as an ‘external’ group who need supporting externally to seeing them as vulnerable young people that should and can be supported by our service, in the ways that we help other young people and their families.

18. Online info on council and vol sector support
RBKC:
WESTMINSTER:
LBHF:

19. Brenda Whinnett Project manager young carers