Young Carers

Background.

Young Carers are children and young people who care for one or more family members who have a disability, long term illness, mental health or substance misuse condition. The care could involve making sure someone is taking their medication, helping with household shopping, being a good “friend” to a sibling, or simply being the organised person in a dysfunctional family. It is time consuming and therefore they could miss out on many life chances.

Young Carers can easily be below the radar, however schools tend to know who many of them are. Just in the Farnham area, there are about 400 Young Carers in the Junior schools aged 5 to 11 and 200 in in the Senior schools aged 11 to 16. There is an even spread over the age ranges.

Farnham Lions Young Carers project has been running since 2024.  It has initially centered around funding and organising Christmas shows at Farnham Maltings for the younger carers and some adventures for the older ones, eg. Sailability. It has made a big difference to the lives of 350 plus Young Carers so far.