2021 European Carers Day campaign
Supporting young carers in Europe is not only a matter of human rights, it is a social investment so, let’s make it happen!
Young carers testimonials
Caregiving During Young Adulthood
When my mother’s relatively routine spinal surgery went wrong nearly seventeen years ago, leaving her in chronic pain and unable to work, my brother gave up his life as he knew it. We call him “the sacrificial lamb.” Like Jesus Christ before him, my older brother laid down his entire life at the feet of the people he loves. At 18 years old, my brother was entering his sophomore year in college. He was doing...Continue reading→
I miss the caregiver in me
I was 20 when my mother had a brain stoke while riding her bicycle, broke her hip and was blood transfused, during an orthopaedic surgery, with infected blood. She got Hepatitis C, which was the cause of her death, 19 years after the day of the brain stroke. I was informed about the stroke while phoning home from a public telephone (there were no mob phones at that time) to tell my parents that I...Continue reading→
“Just checking – are you involved in the young carers project?”
I started caring for both of my parents from the age of 6 - I became a carer overnight when my mum had an accident but despite countless hospital visits, doctors involved and most people knowing I had 2 disabled parents, I didn't become an identified young carer until I was 14 years old - when my attendance plummeted at school because I just couldn't cope anymore. Trying to balance caring for 2 parents with...Continue reading→
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Why a European Carers Day
The idea is to coordinate and foster national efforts to raise awareness of carers’ issues under a pan-European structure. We will therefore be able to capitalise on existing actions and enable/facilitate new initiatives among less-advanced parts of Europe.
About young carers
Young carers are children and young people under 18 who provide or intend to provide care, assistance, or support to a family member or a friend, who has a chronic illness, disability, frailty or addiction. They assume a level of responsibility which would usually be associated with an adult.