Sometimes she didn't get up or wouldn't get up says Cathy She never woke us
"Sometimes she didn't get up, or wouldn't get up," says Cathy "She never woke us. He'd never ask for help in front of his mother, for example, because it would show her up as someone who can't care for her children - and he'd hate her to think that he's had enough.In the case of Cathy and Sean, social services did step in. But does the ponderously named Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 necessarily help children like Jamie? They don't think of themselves as "young carers", or know what kind of help they can demand. Luke Clements, legal adviser to the Carers National Association points out: "The carer has to ask to be assessed, so they must already recognise themselves as carers and realise they have this right."Even under the new legislation, the fears that prevent Jamie from seeking help will continue to do so. We know it will be done." But in practice, the needs of many child carers simply go unnoticed.Under the new law, effective from 1 April, child and adult carers can demand an assessment of their own needs, which must then be taken into account when deciding what is to be done. "If something is only a power," says one social worker, "it won't be done If it's a duty, we think 'Thank God for that'. Young carers could be classed as "in need" under the Children Act 1989, legally allowing social services to help them if they had the resources.
But there is a world of difference between the services councils are "empowered" to provide, and those - such as child protection - that are their legal "duty". While most 12-year-olds are at school, they are effectively working as carers in the community - and for free. These children are willing to look after those they love, but they have no choice. Why are they forced to cope alone when the social services could share the burden?Until earlier this month, when new legislation took effect, the sticking point had been one of legal definition. There were all the advantages of dining in someone else's home, and none of the disadvantages: domestic tiffs, toys under the sofa cushions, feelings that you should be offering to help with the washing up or watching Match of the Day.Our choices made, we were ushered into the dining room, a light, wooden- floored room overlooking the garden (which, obviously, would have been more of an advantage in daylight). It's not a large room, seating a maximum of 20 and apart from our table, there were just two couples dining a deux who looked up in some dismay at the arrival of a roaring party of 10. It is always a good idea, before booking a restaurant table to check that thee are no big groups in that night.
It is also the sort of good idea which only occurs to you just as you sit down for a romantic evening next to a drunken works outing of 25 from the head office of an estate agent."Salmon Three Ways" came highly recommended: "as rillettes smoked and steamed on the premises, worked through with herb butter, as home cured gravadlax with dill sauce, and as smoked from the Isle of Skye" It was a huge hit. The most comprehensive study of young carers to date, produced by the Young Carers Research Group at Loughborough University and published by Community Care magazine, reveals that 42 per cent miss school, and 60 per cent are from single-parent families.Some of these children are pictured opposite. If he draws attention to the demands of caring for his mother, perhaps - as they frequently tell him at school - the men in white coats will come for her. Of the estimated six million carers in Britain, 40,000 are children like Jamie Their average age is just 12. If he makes a fuss, he is terrified he or his brother and sister will be taken into care. Her behaviour is indeed disturbing - even for him, and he is used to it.
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