Despite strong wind and rain, Sheffield Young Carers’ first Research and Action Event on 28th November 2018 was a great success. Held at Sheffield Hallam University and supported by South Yorkshire Futures, we welcomed guests from across Sheffield and as far afield as York and Milton Keynes.
Our Young Carers Action Group stole the show with their confident and clear presentation of their campaign for free travel and their recommendations to the Prime Minister to improve the lives of young carers across the country. It is fantastic to see how much they have grown in confidence through their activism.
SYC’s Managing Director Sara Gowen presented findings from her research into defining inappropriate and excessive caring that young carers undertake. She was a Crook Public Service Fellow in 2017-18 and worked with an academic team from The University of Sheffield. The research highlighted the need for national and local government to effectively implement the Care Act and set guidelines for professionals and families to determine what is inappropriate and/or excessive care. Without these guidelines and a push to implement young carers’ rights, we will continue to rely upon children to fill the gap in services.
The findings from SYC’s research and evaluation work with Ecorys were presented by James Whitley. The findings emphasised the positive impact of whole family support and the economic value of supporting young carers. And Nicola Brimblecombe presented the findings from the London School of Economics’ national research into supporting young adult carers. The research highlighted the physical and emotional impact of caring at a critical stage in young people’s lives. It also addressed the impact of the lack of services and, to counterbalance, the benefits when services work well. The full findings of the research are yet to be published.
Finally, SYC’s Director of Funding and External Relations Katie Borland presented our new research in association with Care Connect/The University of Sheffield. We want to measure the long-term impact of our support on young carers and the findings will be published in October 2019. So watch this space …..
The findings of Sara Gowen’s research and the two evaluation reports produced by Ecorys can be found on the Research page of our website.
