Young carers have responsibilities for providing help to the person they care for, such as: 

• Practical help like cleaning, cooking, laundry, paying bills, and collecting prescriptions. 

• Physical support like lifting and moving, and shopping for food. 

• Personal care like assisting in bathing, washing, dressing, feeding, and administering medication.

• Emotional support like listening, comforting, and coping with mood changes. 

• Sibling care like helping with dressing, cooking meals, homework help, and taking to school. 

Every young carer situation is unique, and this can make it difficult for a child who give care to be identified and supported. Sometimes it is clear to see that there is a caring role, and sometimes it is not. Sometimes a caring role is constant, and sometimes it is not. Sometimes a child will see themselves as a carer, and sometimes they will not. 

There are countless situations where a child can find themselves in a caring role and having to take on caring responsibilities.  For us, the amount of time spent caring each day and the type of care that is being provided are not the most important aspects of carer identity. What matters most to us, when thinking about young carers, is that a child is doing things or behaving in ways that support the cared for person’s health and wellbeing. 

Click here to read some examples of different young carer scenarios. If you have any questions about young carer identity, we encourage you to contact us on 0151 288 6060 or email yc@carers.sefton.gov.uk  for an informal conversation. 

The Sefton Carers Centre Young Carers support service is a small and ambitious team that is dedicated to empowering our borough’s young carers and young adult carers and supporting their future aspirations. We work with young carers directly and for young carers championing their cause. 

Young carers who are registered with us are supported according to their own wishes and needs. When young carers are in need of more support, we will offer more support whilst when young carers are coping better, we will take a step back. 

We keep in touch with all young carers via check-in messages with parents, and we are also connected directly with many of our older young carers on their own phones. Regular updates about our service are shared with all parents of registered young carers. 

Some of our registered young carers access one-to-one support in school with a programme of sessions to help them deal with challenges they are facing as young carers. Sessions are planned when a need arises, and they are stepped back when a young carer’s situation improves. 

Some of our young carers access our weekly young carers drop-in groups which alternate between taking place in Crosby and Southport. The groups are open to all registered school-age young carers, and they offer a mixture of empowerment support and fun breaks from caring. 

Some of our young carers access our respite activities in the school holidays to take a break from looking after their cared for person. We offer a mixed and varied programme to try to appeal to all ages and interests, and activities are always funded by us and our supporters. 

We work with all young carers and families individually to offer the most appropriate support we can proportionate to their caring role. 

Our team continually works in the background as champions of the young carers cause is Sefton to improve opportunities and outcomes for our caregiving youth.  

We work in partnership with schools across our borough, supporting schools to do more to identify and support young carers.  

We deliver awareness presentations to pupils in primary and secondary schools, and we also facilitate young carer training sessions for school staff.  

We work with health and social care professionals, community organisations and others to improve awareness and understanding of young carers and their needs.  

There are limits to what our small team can achieve through our direct work, so we must always dedicate some of our time to thinking of the future and of the work that others can do to empower young carers. 

To engage with the service, young carers must be registered with us. Young carers can be referred by anybody – parents, other family members, professionals, or young people themselves. 

Please see our make a referral page to refer a Young Carer . Alternatively, you download a copy of our referral attached form and email it to yc@carers.sefton.gov.uk 

If you are thinking about referring a child or young person to our service, we encourage you to contact us on 0151 288 6060 or at yc@carers.sefton.gov.uk  for an informal conversation about our support. 

Before making a referral, the following points should be considered: 

• Is the young person aged between 5 and 17? 

• Does the young person and/or the person they care for live in Sefton? 

• Does the young person have caring responsibilities? 

• Has the young person been spoken with about being referred as a young carer? 

• Has parental consent been given for the referral to be made? 

• Does the person in need of care have an illness, a disability, a mental health problem or a substance misuse issue? 

• New referral received and allocated to a staff member 

• Contact made with referrer and parent 

• Introductory meeting with the young person arranged, normally taking place in school 

• Discussion of the young person’s caring role and their needs 

• Explanation of our services and the work we do with and for young carers in Sefton 

• Discussion of the introductory meeting with staff team and actions agreed 

• Referrer, family and young person informed of outcome 

• If agreed, young person will be registered as a young carer and can access support 

• If not eligible, other support options will be discussed 

Please refer to the Sefton Children’s Help and Advice Team (CHAT)