Will this desk be vacant all day?
How does a young carer come into the system?
The page has been moved to here. The text remains on this page as there are links to it elsewhere.
Worst case scenario?
- It's too tempting to depict a scenario based on social housing and a household comprising unkempt children and a lone parent on drugs.
- However, young carers are spread across the population. Those in 1 are the ones who may hit the headlines. We'll start there.
- You have been concerned about the situation in a household near you and knock on the door at around 1000 on a school-day. A twelve-year-old girl answers. You ask "Is everything all right?" The door is slammed shut.
- Perhaps a better result is when Monica says "Yes, why?" You respond with "Shouldn't you be at school?.
- "Can't go today 'cos Mum's ill again." You now have managed to wonder what may be the state of rooms off the appalling mess in the corridor.
- Aware as you are about the problems associated with invading privacy, you decide to leave it at that and part with "I hope your Mum will be OK soon." She is Olive and we depart this page thinking about her brother.
- Where do you go from there? One of the problems with the big society is that it hasn't arrived.
- However, you decide to contact Social Services but with a degree of pessimism.
- The next person to knock on the door could be from a variety of "provision". The list includes Social Services, the Police, a School Attendance Officer, or perhaps, even someone from the school itself.
- Let's agree that the last option is the ideal and explore. The school will be part of a network of local provision. It will include a Pupil Welfare Officer (PWO) or similar. source The PWO may operate within regular meetings with Year Coordinators etc proactively to identify where resources should be directed.
- "Lessons have been learned." -- -- How often to we read that in the newspapers or hear it on the TV news etc. People do fall foul however clever the system is. The teacher in the classroom is fed up with William arriving late too often. He is berated but the problem is not identified. He improves and the matter is forgotten.
- When the situation is finally uncovered due to some unrelated crisis perhaps, William is found to be the thirteen-year-old main carer for his drug-addict mother 9 (see 33). He is late because he has taken his younger sister to another school and has also ensured his younger brother has arrived at his classroom in the same school.
- That's enough about William. We will look at other situations later along with the general process of identifying young carers. 21 is about "Should-haves". 19 raises the question of GP involvement. 13 involves community awareness of social problems in the context of children.
- Parents and others with such responsibility for children may opt out of the school system (insight here including Comment (18). That applies to those with their own problems such as drug abuse.
- Clearly, there are more versions of William in the carer world who will not receive a proper education and the socialisation which accompanies it.
- Consider the "you" starting at Item 5. You are now worried that you will meet a Brian-type on your own doorstep. Item 11 refers.
- But the "you" living in or near the type of housing in the situation isn't too likely to do much about taking it further.
- There are about 175,000 young carers in the UK who provide care or support to a family member who is disabled, physically or mentally ill, or has a substance misuse problem. source
- Sixteen points to have considered. That's enough for now .. except here ..