Young Carers Awareness Day is a national day of recognition for the 700,000 young carers in the UK who work around the clock providing care and support to family and friends.

Young carers are children and young people under 18 years old who provide unpaid care to a family member who is physically or mentally ill, disabled or misuses substances.

Carers Trust is excited to have in the pipeline some fantastic new research and a creative social media campaign which we will be sharing as the big day – 28 January 2016 – approaches.

We want to use Young Carers Awareness Day to get everyone talking about the thousands of carers who are so often unidentified, and who miss out on vital services and support they are entitled to. We aim to communicate who young carers are, what they do and what they have missed out on in their childhoods as a result of their caring role.

With the general awareness and understanding of young carers increased, children and young people with caring responsibilities should then be more easily identified and helped, along with their families, to access the right support.

How can I get involved?

I’m a young or young adult carer

We’re launching a campaign to show how young carers are missing out on school, their social life and other activities because of their caring role. Simply write on a sheet of paper what you feel you miss out on as a carer. Please photograph this on a smartphone or tablet and email it to web@carers.org. The images you send will be posted onto various social media channels on Young Carers Awareness Day. You can make it as simple or as creative as you like as long as the message is clear.

Have you visited Babble (young carers under 18) or Matter (young adult carers aged 16 to 25)? These online community spaces provide a place for young and young adult carers to connect, share experiences and access information and support.

I work with young and young adult carers