Young carers missing out on support due to 'fear of social services'
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Young carers continue to be fearful of being identified because of concerns about what action social services may take, a study commissioned by the Department for Education has found.
A report reveals that despite government efforts to improve support for young people with caring duties, many remain unidentified, with families "fearful of disclosure and what this might mean for them".
The report states that access to support services was dependent upon parents and their children having their fears of the consequences of disclosure allayed by professionals and of having a good awareness and understanding of what support services were available.
As well as such fears other factors in non-disclosure include parents not identifying with the label of "young carer" "due to the negative connotations this could have for them and their child".
The report, which is based on research visits to the homes of 22 young carers and their families, suggests that further research may look to understand why families are still fearful of interventions from social services and from other interventions or services where children's caring roles may be identified.
The report suggests this will be vital if government action, through the Children and Families Act 2014 to boost support for the estimated 160,000 young carers, is to be a success.
This legislation gave young carers the right to an assessment and requires councils to take a "whole family approach" to assessing and supporting the needs of young carer families.
Early identification and intervention is also crucial to ensure that children are not taking on inappropriate caring tasks, the report adds.
Among other suggestions made in the report is to boost the role of friends and extended family members in identifying and supporting young carers.
"Talking to other family members allowed feelings to be shared and often led to the development of better coping strategies," the report adds.
The report also found that some families, who had not involved social services, had instead disclosed their situation to the child's school.
But young carers and their families told researchers that such disclosures "did not always lead to the desired support hoped for by young carers and their parent".
"Inconsistent" awareness and understanding about young carers was a key issue they faced.
GPs are also urged to be more involved in the support of young carer families, particularly to discuss medical concerns and increase children and parents' understanding of conditions. This would help ensure "the impact on children is minimised".
A second phase of the research is now taking place to give a greater insight into the extent of how many hidden young carers there are in England.
