Young adults

The UK’s 290,000 young carers aged 16 to 24 often fall into the gap between adults’ and children’s services. Researcher Alison Petch reports

This film focuses on the work of Nicola James, a social worker for Surrey County Council. Nicola works with disabled young adults and their carers. She introduces us to Caroline Hunter, who cares for her son, who is autistic and has severe learning disabilities. Nicola’s work with the Hunter family demonstrates how considering the needs of both the service user and the carer can have a positive impact on the whole family.

Reports on the increase in the number of young people who care for other individuals with disability, illness, or health problem in Great Britain, according to a study commissioned by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. Number of people who carried out a caring role based on a 2001 census; Concerns on the caregivers.

The concept of social capital is very much an ‘adult’ concept, created by adults for adults, with children as the passive recipients of, primarily, parental social capital. The concept has been broken down into three particular subcategories – bonding (getting by), bridging (getting on) and linking (getting around). However, these subcategories equally do not relate readily to children and young people nor to different groups of young people.