More of our children are caring for us than ever. The challenges that they face are shown in sharp relief by research published on Thursday
by the Children's Society. Post-school they are twice as likely to be
not in education or employment. One in 12 are caring for someone more
than 15 hours per week. Around one in 20 misses school because of
caring. These young people often say they've been bullied or have
developed their own physical and emotional health problems.
The scale of the issue is huge. The 2011 census shows
178,000 young people under 18 looking after a friend or family member.
This isn't the whole picture – we know far more go unidentified. When
filling in the census, many parents simply don't recognise or want to
say that their child is caring for them. BBC research in 2010 put the number at more like 700,000 in reality at that time.
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