Carers’ Resource is a local charity supporting carers of all ages in Bradford, Harrogate, Selby and Craven districts of Yorkshire.
Young carers are children or young people under the age of 18 who provide regular and on-going care and/or emotional support to a family member who is physically or mentally ill, disabled or who misuses substances.
Our young carer service supports young carers from age 7 to 18 (from 5 in Bradford district). Each young carer we work with is in a different situation and we treat all young carers as individuals.

We employ a number of young carer workers – you can find out more about them on our Meet the Team page. We also have volunteers who help at youth clubs and on trips.

All staff and volunteers have been interviewed and DBS checked. You can always ask to see their I.D. badges if you are unsure.

When we are told that a young carer would like support from our service we arrange for a worker to go and meet them, usually at their school. During this meeting we go through questionnaires called ‘The Caring Jobs I Do’ and ‘How Caring Affects Me’. These were developed by national charity Carers Trust together with Comic Relief. If you would like to know more about these please let us know.

As a result of this meeting we assess the amount of impact that being a young carer is having on your child. There are three levels – low, medium and high impact. This determines the type of support we can offer.

The worker will then contact you to let you know the result of the meeting.

We understand that situations can change so if something happens and you feel your child’s needs have changed please let us know and we can use the tools again to reassess them.

• Low Impact – your child is currently coping well with the level of caring required of them. We would ensure there was sufficient support available through their school and offer online support via our website and social media if required.
• Medium Impact – your child seems a little more affected by caring and in addition to online support we would offer the opportunity to join a young carer youth group. We would also invite them to come on at least one trip or activity per year
• High Impact – your child has expressed feeling quite affected by their caring role and we will offer one-to-one mentoring in addition to the group activities and online support. There may be a waiting time for this support.

Young carers may also want to get involved with Young Directions, our steering group. This is a chance for them to influence the services available to them and to speak out on things that matter to them.

These are all dependent on available funding. The majority of our funding comes from the local authorities (BMDC and NYCC), but we also do a lot of fundraising to get extra money especially for trips and activities.

If your child has been referred to us by another organisation (such as their school) we will let them know what support we will be offering.

We keep a database of all people we work with and keep records of all our contacts with each person. All information is stored in accordance with GDPR.

We may ask you to consent to information about your child being shared with other professionals or organisations to help provide them with support. These may include: Schools, GPs and Health Professionals, Colleges or other relevant voluntary/charitable organisations. We may also ask your permission to share with Adult Social Care or Children’s services, for example to arrange a carer’s assessment. We will not share information with these organisations without your explicit consent except where disclosure is necessary for the purpose of safeguarding or as required by law.

We expect your child:

• to be respectful to staff and other young carers
• not to swear
• to behave sensibly
• when on trips/activities, to remain with a member of staff unless told otherwise
• not to smoke/vape, drink ‘energy drinks’, use drugs or alcohol.
• to follow any instructions given by a member of staff

These rules are given to all young carers when they attend our clubs. If a young carer breaks the code of conduct they will be given 3 chances.  If they still don’t follow the rules after 3 warnings, we will ask you to collect your child and they will not be able to attend the following group. If this happens more than once, we will contact you to discuss possible ways to work together so that they can manage their behaviour and enjoy their time at the club.

When on trips and activities, good behaviour is essential to ensure the safety of the group. We ask for your help in reinforcing this message to your child.

We operate a strict No Smoking/Vaping policy at all activities, trips, events and groups we run. We have also banned high caffeine drinks.

We need your permission to work with your child, and to take them on trips or to groups.  Consent forms must be completed if you want your child to receive support from us and take part in groups, trips and events.

Annual consent form

When your child joins the service you will be sent a link to the annual consent form.  When you sign this consent form you give permission for your child to be supported by us. This form covers all groups, individual work and any small group work with Carers’ Resource and its staff. We will send you reminders annually to complete a new form.

Please complete the consent forms in full and include all illnesses/conditions/medication (including asthma).

Medication

Staff will not give out or carry any medication unless parents have arranged this beforehand and completed the medication section of the annual consent form.  If your child is due to go on a trip or residential break, please ensure you have discussed any medication needs with staff in advance. Young carers can carry and administer their own medication if you feel they are able to do so safely. This will be your responsibility. Please also ensure that any asthma inhalers are bought to every activity.

Media/Photos 

We like to take lots of photos!  A selection of photos from trips will be available to view on our website gallery. On the annual consent form we ask for permission to take pictures of young carers taking part in activities, and to use these and/or quotes from your child for publicity, such as on our website. We respect your decision if you do not wish to give permission for this.

Important: Young carers must not take photos or videos of other young people without their knowledge or consent. It is especially important that they do not upload these to social media if the young carers shown in the images do not want them to. This will be dealt with by us as bullying and may lead to a ban from our activities.

If you are worried, upset or concerned about anything that may arise as a result of your involvement with us, or if you want to complain about something that has happened, please contact us to try to sort it out. If you wish to make a formal complaint please contact us for our Complaints Policy.

Also we would always love to hear about any compliments or positive comments you have. Contact methods are here.