We raise money to; employ people to help look after the ill parent/ parents, take the children away on holiday

Dear Sir of Madam,

Would you like to be cooped up in your house all day looking after your ill parent, never having a moment’s rest? If the answer’s no, then donate money to CCFR Carers UK, we aim to let children caring for ill parents have a better life.

I think that we should give money to Carers UK. These children are missing out on their childhood, they may look like a child on the outside, but inside it’s a completely different story. Some of the children we meet have been caring for their parents since they were four years old. They have to grow up so quickly, they have completely missed out on their childhood.

Many of these children do not go to school, they have had no education, so therefore when they grow up they have poor prospects, as they have not been taught how to read write, and may also have very few people skills. These children just care for their ill parent/ parents all day, never once having some time for themselves. Very often even if the child does go to school he or she will have very few friends and if they want some help or need someone to talk to there will be no one there except their parents, ...

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In some cases the child will be caring for their ill parent’ parents 24 hours a day 7 days a week so they will be exhausted and will find it harder and harder to cope with the needs of the ill parent/ parents. Quite often the child will have younger brothers and sisters, so they will have to look after them as well.

Three years ago I met a girl called Emma, she was 14 years old, had never been to school and was caring for her ill parents, one had depression, and the other had manic depression. She never had any time to herself, and was a very unhappy girl. After we heard her story we raised enough money to send in a full time carer, who would look after Emma’s parents in the day time, so she could go to school. The carer would also work some nights, so Emma would be able to get enough sleep so she would have enough energy to go to school the next day. One year after Emma had started school I met up with her and asked her how things were going. She told me how she was top of her class in school and couldn’t thank us enough for what we had done, we had completely changed her life.

Sometimes things do not go as well as they did with Emma, but we try our hardest, and if they do not want our help, then we always make sure that they know that they can ask for our help anytime.

Statistics

23% of children aged under 16 live in families with one family member 'hampered in daily activities by any chronic physical or mental health problem, illness or disability'.

Between 0.27% and 0.72% of all 8-17 year olds will be young carers.

4% of all 18-24 year olds will have regularly cared for an ill or disabled relative during their own childhood.

17% of carers aged 16-35 had caring responsibilities before their 16th birthday 1% of all family carers in Scotland are young carers.

We raise money to; employ people to help look after the ill parent/ parents, take the children away on holiday so they can have a bit of a brake, let the children go to school, and be able to have an education and make friends, let the children do things that we take for granted, and we try and let the children be able to go out, have some fun, and meet new people.

Yours faithfully,