Barnardo’s Lancashire Young Carers Service Lancashire Wide Service: East – Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Hyndburn & Ribble Valley Central – Preston, Chorley, South Ribble & West Lancashire North – Lancaster, Morecambe, Fylde & Wyre Supporting Young Carers and their families We work with Young Carers aged 5 – 17 The Service is currently funded through Lancashire County Council and East Lancashire C.C.G. The LYC Team!

Legislation The Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 came into effect on 1st April 2015. The following statement defines who a young carer is; Young carers include children and young people under 18 who provide regular or on-going care and emotional support to a family member who is physically or mentally ill, disabled, or misuses substances. The Care Act 2014 A whole family approach to assessing and supporting adults; • Consider the impact of the adult’s care needs on the child; • Identify any children who undertake a caring role; • Consider the parenting responsibilities of the adult.

Legislation cont.….. Children and Families Act 2014 Local Authorities must assess whether young carers in their area have support needs and, if so, what those needs are. Lancashire County Council (Children's or Adult's Services) can carry out an assessment if;- They think the child has needs (the young carer or their parent doesn’t have to ask), The child asks them to; The child’s parent asks them to. Lancashire County Council must take reasonable steps to identify and assess young carers within Lancashire who have support needs. All young carers under 18 have a right to an assessment of their need; no matter who they care for, what type of care they provide or how often they provide it. Young adult carers in 'transition' from receiving support from Children's Services to Adult Services also have a right to an assessment.

Young Carers in Lancashire? 9% provide 50+ hours per week care 11.3% provide 20-39 hours per week care 56.1% female (0-24s), 61.2% of those undertaking 50 hrs or more care per week * Caveat of methodology – Census recording. 166,363 nationally. Other estimates at 700,000. Different measures: caring role / activities, negative impact etc. * 2.31% of under 18 population, but skewed by low proportion of under 10s

Young Carers in Lancashire 1.2% of 0-15 census survey population reported as unpaid carers Small district variations but generally reflects population spread Little sig District variation in proportions of YCs: 1.4% in West Lancashire, 1.1% in Burnley, Lancaster, Preston

What Young Carer’s often do Cleaning and tidying up Making food for themselves and/or their family Washing and ironing clothes Go to the shops on their own Paying for things for the family Looking after brothers or sisters Helping someone administer or organise their medication Paying bills/going to the cash point or bank Making and attending doctor and other appointments Making sure house is safe – turning off switches and locking up Helping someone to have a bath or a shower Help to go to the toilet Help to get someone dressed or undressed

What Young Carer’s often do Emotional Support Being there for the adult if they are upset, sad or worried Listening to the adult about their illness, often being a shoulder to cry on Talking to the adult about their illness, ‘Googling’ information so they understand it themselves first Comforting the Adult about their future Reassuring younger siblings about the adults illness or disability

Effects on Young Carers Have no one to talk to, feel frightened or isolated. Are scared to tell anyone about their home circumstances Miss out on friendships & can often be bullied and stigmatised Find it difficult to concentrate and/or hold on to their tempers Are often tired Feel worried, stressed, ashamed and guilty Have difficulty getting to school on time/staying for the whole day Find it difficult to do homework Struggle to get involved in activities in their community Carry high levels of responsibility with little/No support – leading to emotional poor health Can’t think about their future’s i.e. employment/ future education “Now you know the signs and symptoms, here is how you refer for support”

Referrals to The Service Referrals are taken from all agencies and self referral LCC request that a referral is accompanied by a CAF, or step up, step down processes so the service has a full picture of the whole family Referrals are inputted and checked for appropriateness before an assessment Project Worker contacts the family for consent to assess Young Carer Assessment is carried out with Young Carer and then shared with the family to input into the process – the assessment looks at all areas of the young carers lives affected by their role “Nobody asks; they just presume if someone did something wrong or is upset it's their own fault. They don't dig deeper into the matter they just presume something then stick to that idea, even if it's completely wrong – they don't care.”

Support Offered by LYC Support is split into 3 Tiers Tier 1 – High level of support need Tier 2 – Medium level of support need Tier 3 – low level/signposting Support Plan is developed based on the individual needs and wishes of the young carer and the family – Project Worker will meet regularly on a 1 to 1 basis to work through the plan - reviewed regularly and the young carer supported until the plan is completed Targeted group work based on specific needs and issues identified through assessment (ongoing) Supporting young carers to attend meetings e.g. TAF, CIN, CP. Holiday Club “Being able to talk to others really helps. I didn't know about the service until my last year in High School... Before that I just couldn't talk to anybody, I was on my own.”

Support continued Transitions into Adult Services when appropriate Transition support at periods of change e.g. Primary to Secondary School, School to College Work closely with school’s to develop support in conjunction with school staff Young Carers Forum, enabling Young Carers to have a VOICE in services Signposting and support to access Universal Services Referring to other specialist services as appropriate e.g. CAMHS; Children & Family Wellbeing Service; Counselling Services

Other Areas of Work Raising Awareness of Young Carers and our service GP’s & Health Services Education Identifying areas of low referrals and targeting services Identifying and Training Young Carers Champions in Lancashire Attendance at strategic meetings including Working Together for Carers; Triangle of Care and Lancashire Young Carers Strategy Group Involvement in consultation e.g. East Lancashire CSC Development Day, Equality & Cohesion Conference, Barnardo’s research

Same Day, Different Lives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIzWVEsqxxY What we need from you? Help find the 2000+ Lancashire young carers still hidden. How can you do it in your daily role? What support do you need from LYC? Champions…….

Contact details Lancashire Young Carers Service 1 Dorothy Avenue Leyland PR25 2YA 01772 641002 Website - www.barnardos.org.uk/lancashire-young-carers.htm Email – lancashireyoungcarers@barnardos.org.uk