A heavy burden for such young shoulders caring for parents this Christmas

Thousands of Irish children will spend this Christmas looking after their parents, writes Ellie O’Byrne

We all like to think of Christmas as a magical time for children, with visits from Santa, delicious home-cooked feasts and twinkling tree-lights forming memories that will last into adulthood.

But for the shocking number of Irish minors who are providing care for a family member, it’s more likely that the festive season is yet another burden to bear.

Census 2016 figures on disability and carers released by the CSO recently reported that 1.9% of home carers in Ireland are under the age of 15: nationwide, 3,800 children are silently shouldering the burden of providing home care for a family member, often their own parent.

But these numbers may be just the tip of the iceberg: advocacy group and charity Family Carers Ireland believes that there is massive under-reporting of what are termed “young carers” in Ireland. Padraig McGrath is the NGO’s specialist young carer development officer.

“You’ll come across young carers in virtually every classroom in the country,” Mr McGrath says. “I think the figures are much higher and that there may be a problem with under-reporting in the census. A lot of families don’t identify young people as carers, because it’s normalised within a family context.”

In fact, 11.9% of 10-17-year-olds, or nearly 60,000 Irish young people, provide regular unpaid help to a family member with a long-term illness or disability, according to a 2016 study commissioned by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

It’s a poorly understood area in part because of the complexity of the caring role. There’s a “spectrum of care”, Mr McGrath says, and older children and teens helping to provide assistance to a sibling with a disability, for example, can be a positive experience, where the young person develops traits like responsibility that they can carry into adulthood.

But on the other end of the spectrum, young people who are taking on an inappropriate level of responsibility can see their education, social life and health negatively impacted. Young people may find themselves in the position of providing personal hygiene assistance, doing domestic tasks and taking on the care of younger siblings to such an extent that they don’t have time for their own vital formative development.

“I’ve come across a girl who was turning 12, and she was looking after her mum,” Mr McGrath says. “We would deem that to be inappropriate for her age. We advocated on the young person’s behalf, and the rest of the family rallied round as well to make sure that there were other family members to help out and that services were put in place.”

Young carers may be caring for parents with physical disabilities, but they are also caring for people with mental illnesses and addiction problems; Mr McGrath said that Family Carers Ireland are encountering increasing numbers of young carers in Dublin inner city who are looking after parents battling addiction.

Young carers face a largely invisible set of challenges; classmates, teachers and the wider community may not be aware of the responsibility they are bearing. “These young people are taking on responsibilities that wouldn’t normally be expected of people their age and often-times it limits their life chances,” Mr McGrath says.

As minors, young carers are ineligible for carer’s allowance, although over-16s may be eligible for carer’s respite grants. Even though this can mean that families are facing an additional financial burden compared to situations where the carer is an adult, the issue of monetising young carers’ work is a complex one.

Other measures that could help level the playing field with their peers, include grants and bursaries for third-level education.

Family Carers Ireland lobby government to try to ensure that the burden on young carers is alleviated.

“We’re trying to support young people to ensure that the caring role doesn’t negatively affect them, but we’re a long way off that,” Mr McGrath says. “There needs to be a lot more awareness.”

Mr McGrath says he’s encountered young people who are tackling their difficult circumstances with grace and maturity far beyond their years.

“It’s part of human behaviour to look after the people we love and unfortunately it falls to young people to do this alone due to lack of resources in Ireland.

“I’d like to see that any young carer as a positive experience of care and that when they need support that it’s readily available to them,” Mr McGrath says, “Whether that be respite, financial assistance, or emotional and practical assistance in the home. That’s what I want to see.”

One thing’s for sure, Mr McGrath says; this Christmas, “there will be young people in Ireland who will be preparing the Christmas dinner and even shopping for their own Santa presents for themselves.”