Young Carers
We want to hear from you!
If you’re a young carer, here’s your chance to share your story.
Click here
What is a young carer?
A young carer is someone under the age of 25 who takes care of a family member who has a chronic illness, disability, mental health or substance use issue and/or problems related to old age.
Why does this matter?
While caregiving can have many benefits (heightened empathy, maturity and confidence), there are important negative consequences. Significant time away from friends and school, social isolation and heightened stress can impact school retention, post-secondary education and training, employment, health and wellbeing.
How many young carers are there in Canada?
According to Statistics Canada, over 1.18 million youth (15–24 years old) were providing some level of unpaid child and senior care in 2006, a 13.5% increase from 1996 (Stamatopoulos, 2015).
There must be programs in place to help young carers, right?
Back in 2018, AMI-Quebec recognized this underserved population and the negative ramifications associated with the lack of recognition and support of young carers. A working group was created to explore this further and develop ways for change.
A collaboration of AMI-Quebec and RANQ (Regroupement des aidants naturels du Québec), in March 2019, the first ever Quebec-based symposium on young carers was held in Montreal, with the goal of putting young carers on the map. It aimed to increase recognition and awareness of the problem, and ultimately to advocate for services to address young carers’ needs, and encourage the development of a legal framework that could promote both awareness and support.
So what’s being done about it?
The working group articulated vision and mission statements:
VISION STATEMENT
We envision a society that:
- Recognizes and values the important contributions young carers make in providing care and support to family and loved ones.
- Provides a variety of supports and resources to young carers to assist them in maintaining their caregiving role, and to ensure their healthy physical, emotional, and social development.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Young Carers Working Group is committed to promote protective factors and minimize risk factors that might be related to providing care to family and loved ones at a young age. The Working Group will:
- raise awareness of the role young carers play
- explore the range of their needs
- encourage the provision of information and supports
- influence policies and services aimed at supporting young carers in their role
Promoting awareness and support services continue.
Want resources for young carers?
DON’T MISS…
AMI-Quebec introduced a young carers support group this past fall. Click here for details.
Don’t miss any announcements–click here to sign up for our monthly emails.
Saul Becker is an expert on young carers. He joined us for the 2022 Low-Beer Memorial lecture. See what he had to say about young carers!
Proche aidance Québec (formerly RANQ) recently developed videos and a guide on young carers, all aimed at increasing awareness; the videos target the education and healthcare sectors, as well as young carers themselves. Recognizing that young carers are often the last ones to identify themselves as young carers, it is hoped that these tools will facilitate recognition and lead to young carers seeking help and support.
Click here for the other videos in this series, including ones specifically for people working in education and health care (et pour les videos en français).
Click on the images below to enlarge. Please download and share!
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