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Young carers: Coalition to challenge lack of co-ordinated support

1 min read
Children's and adult services must work together to stop the burden of caring for sick or disabled relatives falling on the shoulders of children as young as seven, a coalition of leading care and parenting organisations said last week.

At the moment, families are falling through a gap between the differentservices, which means young carers are suffering, said the group. Thegroup also fears the gap could widen as children's services are broughttogether in children's trusts.

The Family Policy Alliance, which represents Parentline Plus, the FamilyWelfare Association and the Family Rights Group, has joined forces withThe Children's Society, the Disabled Parents Network and The PrincessRoyal Trust for Carers.

"We don't just want to help young carers who are taking on aninappropriate caring role; we want to stop them becoming young carers inthe first place," said Alex Fox, head of young carer development at thetrust. He said a vital step was ensuring adult services assessed andsupported clients and helped them "be the parent they want to be".

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