Childhood is usually seen as a responsibility-free stage of life where adults are “in charge” while children are the subjects of attention and care. However, across Europe, a significant number of children and young people provide care to a family member or a friend who has a condition related to a long-term care need, like a disability, chronic disease or addiction. Although these young carers can gain satisfaction from caring and experience enhanced self-esteem, empathy and maturity, caring can also have a negative impact on their development, along with their education, mental health and social inclusion.
Young carers aged 15-17 belong to the group of “adolescent young carers”. Being in a critical, transitional phase of their development, they deserve special attention. Moving from childhood into adulthood is a crucial stage not only for biological and psychosocial reasons; it also affects the positioning of adolescents with regards to the law, policy, health and social care.
Me-We, short for “Psychosocial Support for Promoting Mental health and Wellbeing among adolescent young carers in Europe”, is a research and innovation project, funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme. The goal of the project is to strengthen the resilience of Adolescent Young Carers in order to impact positively on their mental health and well-being and to reduce the negative influence of environmental factors in their lives.
The project focuses on six European countries (Sweden, Slovenia, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and UK) with the aim of systematising knowledge on adolescent young carers by identifying their profiles, needs and preferences and analysing national policy, legal and service frameworks while providing good practice, ideas for social innovations and evidence.
Sirpa Pietikäinen, a member of the European Parliament calls for a European Carers Programme to shed light on a "hidden army of carers": young people across Europe who have to juggle growing up with caring responsibilities.
By providing research-based evidence, the ME-WE project highlights the needs of these young carers and advises concrete actions that can be taken to strengthen their mental health and wellbeing and to empower them to pursue their goals in life. The ME-WE project also gives a voice to young carers, emphasizing the importance of co-creating solutions with and for them.
The Me-We study states that the existence of legislation and policies is not sufficient enough to ensure that young carers are supported in practice. Their recommendations include adopting a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach, considering the whole family when addressing young carers and focusing on prevention and empowerment, rather than protection.
For more information about the Me-We project, please visit https://me-we.eu/
Details about the project partners are available at https://me-we.eu/partners/