Young Carers And Their Families

EDM number 539 in 2004-05, proposed by Annette Brooke on 18/01/2005.

That this House welcomes the recent launch of the Joint Position Statements on Young Carers; notes that this partnership between the Princes Royal Trust for Carers, the Children's Society and the Disabled Parents Network illustrates the voluntary sector's leadership in working together to provide whole-family, preventative support for young carers and their families; applauds the Department for Education and Skills for funding this initiative; recognises that the vast majority of the United Kingdom's 175,000 young carers endure their entire childhoods unsupported and receive no form of assessment, a fact highlighted by the latest report from the Young Carers Research Group; regrets that services for adults and services for children often struggle to work in partnership, especially where a local authority does not have a protocol for joint working; believes that disabled parents should be able to access the support they need to enable them to get their children to school and that young carers should receive appropriate recognition and support once at school; and calls for services that support adults to recognise that many fo their clients are parents and require support with that role in order to prevent their children having to take on inappropriate caring roles.

This motion has been signed by a total of 119 MPs.