Am I a young carer?

A young carer is someone aged 18 or under who helps look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem.

If you are a young carer you provide very significant and often crucial help to your family but it is important that you realise the role you are playing. Being a young carer can affect your wellbeing so it is ok to ask for help and additional support is available if you need it.

What do young carers and young adult carers do?

It is important to remember, if the person you care for could not cope without your support, then you are a carer. 
Young carers may:

• Provide emotional support for someone in their family. This could be supporting a parent struggling with mental health, helping to calm a sibling if they are angry, or listening to a family member’s worries, reassuring them, and keeping them company.
• Have extra responsibilities at home that their non-caring friends don’t? This could be collecting the washing, mopping the floor, making breakfast, hoovering, and watching over family members.
• Help to fill out forms or manage bills and budgets.
• Take someone to the doctors and/or hospital appointments for check-ups.
• Help someone get ready for the day.
• Translate for someone if English isn’t their first language or if they have a speech or hearing issue.

Surrey and Border's website provides a hub of information for young carers. This includes information on what support is available and what your rights are as a young carer.