Schools are vital and ideally positioned to play a collaborative role in identifying young carers and initiating support for them and families, argue Carers Trust. However, current provision of support for young carers within schools is patchy across the UK. Feedback from young carers and the services that support them indicate a vast inconsistency across the country in embedding effective identification and support frameworks for young carers and their families. Some schools have established excellent practice to identify and support pupils who have caring responsibilities, where many others do not have anything in place.
Anna Morris, senior policy manager at Carers Trust, said: “Children with caring responsibilities have a right to fully benefit from their schooling, their friendships and the opportunities life has to offer. We hope this resource will highlight the importance of supporting young carers and provide the practical starting point to ensure that schools embed a clear framework for the identification and support of young carers and their families, which is reflected in the schools policies, practice, training and communication with parents.”
Hospice and palliative care services that work with schools may find this new resource useful. It can be downloaded from the Carers Trust website.
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