Young carers face funding crisis and long waiting lists for mental health support, charity boss warns

This is according to Rachel Tungate, the CEO of a small charity in Brentwood, Kool Carers, which supports children who care for a family member that may have a chronic illness or addiction.

Kool Carers provides care for children like Amia, a 15 year old whose mother Lacey has fibromyalgia, which often leaves her bedbound. Amia is neurodiverse, and she often has to look after her two younger brothers, who have anxiety and autism.

“I have to do cleaning and cooking around the house… I have to help out with my brothers. Sometimes it is hard to balance,” Amia has told LBC.

“Sometimes I’m unable to go on school trips or go to clubs. I have to be at home in time to help around the house.”

“It’s really hard. I want to be out with friends. I feel left out. I had to go to counselling for a long time.”

Kool Carers helps children like Amia and her family by providing young carers with a range of services. The CEO of the charity, Rachel Tungate, says the sessions give the children the opportunity to meet other young people who they share an identity with, which she says is very important.

Rachel Tungate has told LBC “they get the opportunity to do lots of fun things, like drama, arts and crafts and sports.”

On top of that, Tungate says that her charity also provides young children with therapeutic support.

But Tungate says that this is the toughest year yet for charities trying to receive funding, which is impacting their capacity to support young carers.

“We have also identified that since Covid, we are getting more and more young people struggling with their mental health. I totally appreciate that the statutory mental health services are really overwhelmed right now, but it is very difficult when you are a small charity.

"The funding we have is so restricted, and sometimes our therapists feel our young carers need more intensive support or mental health assessments, and the waiting lists are so long. This is impacting on our young carers lives.”

Tungate says that at the beginning of the pandemic, the charity lost one of their young carers to suicide. "I had the absolutely devastating news that one of our young carers who was only 12 years old had actually lost her struggles to mental health and she took her own life.”

Amia’s mother Lacey says families like hers need far more support in order to avoid more tragedies. “Amia is an amazing young woman who has the ability to do so much, but the responsibilities do have an impact on her mental health. Her confidence drops, her self esteem drops, her ability to engage just with us drops. When she gets low, she will lock herself in her room.”

Lacey says her family is at breaking point. “The mental health service just isn’t doing what it needs to be doing. The schools, the families, and the mental health services need to be working together. The government should be looking at this, and seeing our young children are in crisis. Why are we not supporting them?”

“Questions need to be asked and there needs to be a massive overhaul of the mental health service and how we approach mental health as a whole.”

LBC’s charity, Make Some Noise, is championing projects like these through Small Charity Week.

This week only, every pound you give will be DOUBLED, thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

So, if you can give £10, you will make an even bigger difference in communities across the UK. Visit makesomenoise.com to find out more about the charities taking part in Small Charity Week.