Young carers are children/young people who care for family member(s) who:
- suffer from an illness
- have a disability
- have mental ill-health issues
- suffer from substance misuse
Their caring role has an impact on their lives as they often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities. Under normal circumstances, an adult would provide the care.
Caring for someone can be a positive experience and many young carers say 'they learn important skills and feel good about their caring role'.
Being a young carer can also be lonely as their time is often taken up with caring tasks and there are few opportunities for friendships or socialising.
Young carers may want to keep these things to themselves for many reasons such as worrying about bullying, so adults work with children to share the responsibility. Adults try to understand the impact a caring responsibility may have on young carers and work out how to best help and support them.
Supporting Young Carers in Fife
For more information, visit the Fife Young Carers website.
Fife Young Carers Befriending Service
Lead Scotland enable young people aged 12 to 18 who have a caring role at home in Fife to experience the same opportunities as their peers. Their Lead Scotland Volunteer Befriender’s can help provide support to young people that can improve their confidence and connection with their community.
The service aims to be flexible and as such will operate on a case-by-case basis, however, it is anticipated that the support will be for 1-3 hours per week for a duration of up to 6 months.
For more information, visit the Lead Scotland website.