A guidance report to support young carers is available online
All over Europe, there are children, teenagers and young adults who take care of an ill or disabled family member. Studies suggest that 1-2 teenagers in every school class are taking on those responsibilities. We call them Young Carers and they are not yet recognized as a specific target group in the healthcare and youth sector in most countries. This is despite the fact that they are in need for targeted support as care responsibilities can limit their potential in education, work life and participation.
There are however, initiatives and projects that want to change this and shine a light on Young Cares in Europe. One of these projects was our Erasmus+ funded European partnership EPYC: empowering professionals to support Young Carers. In the last two years we have developed resources and tools that support professionals in gaining knowledge about Young Carers. There are also tools that help professionals understand the need to support them and how to support them. We created a guidance report for policy makers and service providers with valuable recommendations on how to set up group support services for Young Carers.
We invite you to read more on available resources here.
We would be delighted to get in touch with you on the topic of young carers and are available for discussions and cooperation. We think that Young Carers are a group that would be of high relevance to your organization and hope that together we can improve awareness among professionals and policy makers all over Europe.
For further information about this project, please contact Benjamin Salzmann or Licia Boccaletti.