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Young carers are people under the age of 18 who helps to look after another person at home, such as a parent or other relative who has M.E. (or another illness). It is thought that there might be at least 50,000 young carers in the UK.
The care you do might include helping your parent get dressed, have a bath or use the toilet as well as doing the housework, cooking, washing up, washing clothes or looking after younger brothers and sisters.
All these jobs can take a lot of time and if you are a young carer you might be worried about:
If you are a young carer you should not be struggling to manage all these tasks on your own. You are entitled to have an assessment of your needs to work out how more help can be offered to your family.
Contact your doctor or local social services offices and ask to speak to a social worker from the children and families department and tell them you need an assessment.
Having an assessment
A social worker will visit you and your family to ask you loads of questions about how you help your relative or the help that you do in the home. They will want to get a good idea of the situation so they can figure out how best to help you and your family.
It's better if you tell them about the real situation, don't cover up things and pretend that you're manging ok. Just think how better off you and your family will be if you can get some extra help such as more services, equipment, an adaptation to your home to help your relative get around or more support.
For more advice and information about being a young carer check the organisations in our useful links.
