Time 4 U

What is a young carer?

A young carer is an individual child or young person under the age of 18, who provides unpaid help and support on a regular basis to a family member, friend or relative. They may provide practical help, care, physical or emotional support to a person who is vulnerable for a wide variety of reasons, whether through age, physical or mental illness, disability or other issues such as substance misuse.

A young carer becomes vulnerable when the level of care giving and responsibility to the person in need of care becomes excessive or inappropriate for that child, risking impacting on his or her emotional/ physical wellbeing or educational achievement and life chances

Plymouth City Council

Plymouth Young Carers is a citywide project providing youth sessions for all young carers aged from 8 years old. The overall aim is to give young carers a break, meet up with other carers, have opportunities to engage in positive fun activities and to feel supported. The project is run by Community Connections Youth Workers and Volunteers

Barnardos

We are a dedicated team who work alongside young carers on a one to one basis focusing on a whole family approach. With the use of a young person led support plan we aim to reduce the impact of the harmful aspects of caring and ensuring each young person feels listened to.

Long term work enables us to offer significant support to young people and their parents with an emphasis on building resilience and self-esteem, exploring opportunities to get a break from caring and raising aspirations.

Similarly, we work closely with parents to ensure they have appropriate support which can ease the burden of caring.

Hamoaze House - Hidden Harm

We work with children aged 5-18 who are affected by substance misuse within their family. We do this in a variety of ways:

• Support can take place at school, home or in the community. We offer one to one emotional support and coping strategies.
• Support to gain an understanding of substances and their effects, and substance treatment plans.

Improving Lives Plymouth

Caring For Carers supports adult carers aged 18+ Many young carers will go on to be a carer when they reach the age of 18 and this is when we can undertake a statutory carers assessment with them to look at the support they require to assist their health and wellbeing. We can also support other adult family members who may also be caring for the same person as the young carer.

Time 4 U

The purpose of Time 4 U is to streamline existing services, reduce duplication, combine and utilise skills and experience and ensure even more children, young people and families benefit from a service.

With so many adult responsibilities, young carers often miss out on opportunities that other children have to play and learn.

Many struggle educationally and are often bullied for being 'different'. They can become isolated, with no relief from the pressures at home, and no chance to enjoy a normal childhood.

They are often afraid to ask for help as they fear letting the family down or being taken into care.

How to request support

The request for service process for all three services will be through the Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT) with representatives from all three organisations assessing referrals. The most appropriate service within Time 4 U will then be allocated to best meet the needs of the child, young person and/or family. For Children's Social Care, the CSC single assessment will be accepted together with the request for service email. All requests for service will need to be sent through to time4u@plymouth.gov.uk with Time4U Request for Service in the subject field of the email.