Young Carers are children and young people under 18 years whose lives are affected by caring for an unwell or disabled family member.
They care for a parent, grandparent, brother, sister or another family member. The person they care for may have a physical or learning disability, a long term illness, mental ill health, or have difficulties with drug or alcohol use.
They care in many different ways. The help they give may include shopping, cooking, lifting, laundry, personal care, keeping an eye on someone, cheering someone up and looking after brothers and sisters.
Support available
The Young Carer Support Officer is employed by Southampton City Council to work with schools, to identify, track and support, where necessary, all Young Carers who are on role at a school in Southampton.
The focus of the involvement is to increase the educational attainment of Young Carers across the City by offering the following services:
Providing one-to-one support to Young Carers who have complex needs often associated with behavioural, emotional or attendance issues in school
Providing advice and support to individual Teachers and schools on how to best support both individual Young Carers and their families and general advice associated with being a young carer
Developing tailor-made strategies for Young Carers, school staff and or home to use
Providing advice and support to families with Young Carers
Liaising with and make referrals to relevant agencies where appropriate, such as Social Care, Housing, Health, Education Welfare, CAMHS etc
Offering transition support for Young Carers transferring to either a new school or college
Signpost on to other support services such as Southampton Young Carers Project, Youths Accessing Health, Life Course, Motorcycle Project, Hub 4, Protégé, YMCA Southampton etc.
Influence and inform local and national policies, plans, strategies etc. to raise awareness of the issues being faced by Young Carers
For more information please contact us using the details below.
Southampton City Council
