Teachers and student welfare staff will now be better equipped to assist Canberra's young carers to juggle their caring and school responsibilities with the release of Making Education Work for Young Carers.
It's a new information kit developed by CYCLOPS ACT, a service of Anglicare and was funded through the ACT Government's Carer Recognition Grants and launched during National Carers Week. The week is to celebrate and raise awareness of the contribution made by carers of all ages and this years theme is Anyone, Anytime recognising that people often become carers unexpectedly.
The kit provides information and guidance to support young carers to continue their education to the level they aspire, identify the challenges young carers have in pursuing a formal education while attending to their carers roles and inturn reduce the challenges teachers have in identifying, understanding and assisting young carers.
Launching the pack Mary Porter said "As many as 8,000 of Canberra's 43,000 carers are under 25 and of those at least 4,000 are under the age of 18 and I can only begin to imagine the stress they must be under when they try and juggle their caring roles with education, part-time jobs and just the everyday pressures of growing up."
"As carers these young people are making a huge contribution to the social and economic well being of the Canberra community and I congratulate them for the wonderful work they are doing."
"The increased emotional and physical pressures that can result in poor attendance at school or incomplete homework are not always understood by teachers and councillors and so the young people do not always receive the appropriate support."
"The lives of young carers are often made more difficult when their responsibilities as carers are not recognised and understood and this is where the information kit will be a great resource" Mary said.
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