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Together for Young Adult Carers

The project targets young adult carers (YAC) with caring responsibilites (towards dependent parents, siblings or other relatives) which according to statistics, represent around 5% of people aged 18-24. This group, is further disadvantaged among an existing vulnerable group of our population(ie carers), significantly because their educational and employment opportunities are often limited by the role they play in the family. Common impacts of caring on this target group are: neducational underperformance (due to low attainment and attendance), barriers to paid work (because there is very little ‘spare’ time over and above caring responsibilities to actually go out and find or get a job, or keep it), lack of understanding from peers, restricted friendships, limited opportunities for social and leisure activities, and emotional difficulties. In spite of the significance of this target group, apart from notable exceptions the majority of European member states have no reliable figures on the number and characteristics of young carers. In addition, there is a dearth of research on the area and few if any policy papers; very few if any young carers projects or services; no laws or policies focused specifically on young carers; no ‘rights’ or entitlements. The lack of societal awareness, attention and research on their situation, makes it difficult for public private and voluntary organisations to develop suitable strategies and services. The possibility to share experiences between countries that have considerable experience in this issue and countries with less developed experiences will give the chance to demonstrate what is possible, capitalise on the work done, build on successful experiences, help in raising awareness and clear the way for piloting of new services.
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