Punishing Children for Caring: The Hidden Cost of Young Carers

Examining the lives, experiences and needs of children who care - those children under the age of 18 who provide primary care for a sick, disabled or elderly adult in the home - suggests that child carers are effectively punished for caring.

Abstract

SUMMARY. This paper examines the lives, experiences and needs of children who care ‐ those children under the age of 18 who provide primary care for a sick, disabled or elderly adult in the home. It presents data from a recent study into the lives of these children, their responsibilities, their commitments, their pain and their fears. It paints a picture of neglect both by professionals paid to care as well as by other family members. It suggests that child carers are effectively punished for caring. The paper goes on to examine the implications for child carers of the Community Care Act, finally implemented on 1 April 1993, to raise a number of critical questions about the rights of children who care, and to suggest a number of innovative ways forward, based upon the expressed needs of young carers.