How young carers influence policy
Emily Rogers
Monday, October 13, 2014
Young Carers in Focus raises awareness of the needs of young carers and helps them influence policy.
PROJECT
Young Carers in Focus
FUNDING
About £300,000 a year over four years from the Big Lottery Fund's Youth In Focus programme
BACKGROUND
The Children's Society has run an annual Young Carers Festival since 2000, in partnership with YMCA Fairthorne Manor. It enables 1,500 11- to 17-year-olds to get together and socialise at the same time as voicing their opinions on issues that matter to them. But it became clear young people wanted this to continue beyond the one-off event.
ACTION
The Children's Society went on to establish a network of "young carer champions" to advocate for their peers and influence policy makers. The first of these were recruited in May 2012. The next step was the creation of Makewaves, a social networking site, developed by social enterprise DigitalMe, to enable young carers to connect with each other and the wider world.
The champions were asked to sign up to the project for at least six months and to be prepared to share their stories publicly, talk to the media and participate in training. Thirty 14- to 19-year-olds signed up in the first year and there are now 138, with a further 40 starting in January.
The recruits get training to equip them with skills including leadership, giving presentations, interviewing, listening, voicing opinions and using digital media. Meanwhile, Rethink Mental Illness, another partner in the project, delivers workshops to help them look after their own emotional wellbeing. The project is also supported by the Fatherhood Institute, which highlights the role of fathers in young carers' lives.
The young campaigners have helped bring about change including a long-awaited duty for councils to consider the needs of young carers as part of social care assessments. "We supported them to feel confident to engage with a room of high-level professionals to influence changes in the law," says strategic programme manager Jenny Frank. "As professionals in the voluntary sector, we can go and talk to ministers, but there's nothing like taking young people and letting them say how it is."
The champions have also been involved in training school nurses and teachers.
OUTCOME
Young carers attending a training residential last year rated their skills on a scale of one to five before and after attending. Before, eight of the 30 surveyed awarded themselves the top score of five for listening skills, but this more than doubled to 20 after the training. The number of top scores also rose when it came to presenting skills, expressing opinions and leadership. When it came to teamwork, those scoring five increased from eight to 15. And for making and influencing decisions, that number increased from three to 12.