#CareForMeToo on Young Carers Awareness Day

That the Parliament acknowledges Young Carers Awareness Day on 31 January 2019; notes the extensive survey work by young carer services and Carers Trust Scotland, which shows that at least one in ten in every class has a caring role; recognises the immense contribution that young carers make to a family member or friend with an illness, disability, mental illness and/or addiction problems; supports #CareForMeToo, a campaign run by Carers Trust Scotland to raise awareness and improve the support for young carers’ mental health and wellbeing; welcomes the new YouGov research, commissioned by Carers Trust, which reveals that over a third of young carers in the UK aged 11 to 18 are experiencing widespread problems with their mental wellbeing, that 37% said they felt “stressed”, that almost a quarter of young carers felt their caring role had, on at least one occasion, stopped them making friends, and that less than half of young carers felt that that they got enough help with their emotions and feelings; considers that young carers can greatly benefit if education, health and social care professionals received mandatory training pre-registration so that they are more aware of young carers’ needs and better able to identify them, and believes that appropriate services and support should be provided to ensure that young carers’ mental wellbeing is maintained so that they can achieve their true potential in all aspects of their lives.