Young children ‘take care of parents’

CHILDREN as young as five are caring for their ill or disabled parents, a Barnardos report revealed yesterday.

“Many of the young carers take on this role in addition to full time education. So they could be providing up to two hours a day of unpaid care work in addition to attending school and doing homework,” said Anne Conroy, head of Barnardos’ National Children’s Resource Centre.

Care work taken on by young people can include everything from household tasks to personal, social and emotional care for parents or close relatives.

The report, Caring Before Their Time - Research and Policy Perspectives on Young Carers, which was part-funded by the Irish Youth Foundation, also shows that little is known of the impact on children and young people of caring for their sick or disabled parents or relatives.

“The statistics are unclear on the younger carers, but we know from CSO figures that nearly 3,000 people between the ages of 15 and 17 take on the role as unpaid carer in the home,” said Ms Conroy.

Of particular concern is that young people who have the role of carer thrust upon them may not be able to continue in education or find work.

Around one in three young carers in Britain found that their education suffered.

Robbie Gilligan and Anne Marie Halpenny of the Children’s Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin, based their report on a review of international research.

Mr Gilligan said there was a need to identify the numbers of children in Ireland who take on a significant caring role in their families.

“We also need to research what the support needs of their families are and what the effects of caring are on young people’s educational achievements,” he said.

Such research may prove difficult, however, because children themselves might wish to avoid drawing attention to their situation for fear of being separated from their parent and the family falling apart.

The report also calls for a set of pilot schemes to be put in place to see how services can best be developed in the Irish context.

Ms Conroy said they wanted to see the Department of Health and Children take a lead on the issue.

There was a need for policy changes to make additional supports available through the health boards to families that rely on young carers.

Such supports, which were already available in Britain, would allow young carers to participate fully in education and allow them to have a reasonable social life and contact with their own age group.

Supports for the emotional and psychological impact of caring for an ill parent or relative should also be provided.