It’s Young Carers Action Day on Wednesday 11 March. The theme this year is 'fair futures for young carers', a call to ensure every young carer has the same chances to learn, grow and thrive as their peers.

In Camden, we’re highlighting the support young carers need to reach their potential, from recognition in school and access to training and employment, to meaningful breaks, wellbeing support and opportunities that help them build brighter futures. Below, two members of the Camden Borough Carers Partnership Board reflect on what ‘fair futures for young carers’ means to them.

Wajidha Shamash-Din, Co-Chair of Camden Borough Carers Partnership Board, said:

"In my opinion, a young carer is a child or young person who takes on responsibilities that go far beyond what should be expected at their age. They may be caring for a parent, siblings or other family members, often quietly and without recognition, while still trying to manage school, friendships and their own wellbeing. 

I have a daughter who is a young carer, and seeing this through my own family has shaped my understanding deeply. She has helped care for me, her dad and her siblings, and although this comes from love, I want her to have a life where she is free to be a child. In my opinion, every child deserves a childhood free from unnecessary stress and adult responsibilities. I try my very best to protect her from carrying too much and to make sure she is not burdened by caring duties. 

This matters even more to me because I was a young carer once myself and I carried that sense of duty well into adulthood without realising what it was. It took a social worker to tell me that I was a carer, and only then did I understand how much responsibility I had taken on as a child. When I realised this, I became determined to do everything I could to stop my daughter from carrying the same weight. 

In my opinion, young carers should be identified early and supported through early intervention, so they are seen, heard and helped before caring affects their health, education or future. Young carers show incredible strength and compassion, but they should also be looked after, supported and given the same chances as their peers to thrive and reach their full potential. They deserve fairness, understanding, protection, opportunity, joy, hope and choice."

Beverley Benson, Camden resident and Camden Borough Partnership Carers Board Member, said:

"For me, fair futures for young carers (the theme for Young Carers Action Day 2026) means young carers having the opportunity of a life that’s fully fulfilled, a life not constrained or stifled because of extenuating circumstances that are beyond the control of the young carer, so that their caring responsibilities aren’t encroaching on all facets of their personal freedoms. 

It means having a seamlessly enjoyable childhood and being able to be fully a young person, with all that it encompasses. It’s being able to go to the cinema on a Saturday with your friends on a whim, talking about the latest new song that all the kids are mesmerised by, being able to enjoy the excitement of it all. It’s enjoying the latest ‘recycled’ fashion, whilst feeling like you’re creating something inventive as you rummage through your older sister's or a friend's wardrobe. 

It’s enjoying most people’s shared milestones in life and being included in the normalcy of going on your first holiday, experiencing your first heartbreak, your first job and getting your first car, your first home. Enjoying the simple things in life, and the challenges and the joys of being a young person who is transitioning into adulthood. This is only possible with the right support systems, healthy advice streams, mentors, advocates and confidants in place to guide and chaperone the individual to live a life that’s fully enriched. 

If, for the average young person or child, “it takes a village to raise a child”, I believe for a young carer, it takes an army. Often, people are unaware that being a young carer can, at times, become taxing, tiring, secluded and thankless.

A fair future for a young carer is providing systems that allow for a young carer to experience opportunities that display no differences between them and their peers who aren’t young carers. A fair future to me is about young carers having the opportunity to complete education without distractions, without school being a tool for escapism, and without suffering heart churns and stomach rumbles from worries about what’s happening in the home or what the young carer will have to face upon their return home. 

It’s being allowed to have ambitions and dreams, believing that these will or can actually happen, with bucket lists and goals materialising because the right support system is put in place to help the young carer navigate through life with ease. 

It’s allowing young carers to be who they are, a young person who happens to care for someone - not a label that defines them for the rest of their lives. 

If a man stepping on the moon was a great leap for mankind, then I envisage a young carer being all they desire to be as phenomenal as one of the seven wonders of the world."

Definition of a young carer
Young carers are defined in the Children Act 2014 as “a person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for another person (of any age, except where that care is provided for payment, pursuant to a contract or as voluntary work)”. Their caring responsibilities could be for a parent, or sibling, or both, perhaps due to that parent or sibling’s long-term illness, disability or substance dependency. If left unsupported, young carers are vulnerable.

Carers Action Plan 
The Carers Action Plan is a plan across Camden to better recognise and support unpaid carers. To ensure that responsibility for the action plan is shared across organisations, a Board was launched in early 2025, called the Borough Partnership Carers Board. The Board tracks progress of the areas for action and ensures that the principles are considered in all work. The board includes carers, Councillors, and senior representatives from across our wider Borough Partnership.

Meanwhile, a draft Camden Young Carers Plan 2026-29 is due to be finalised in consultation with families, young carers and partners. It will set out how the Council and our partners will help young carers under ‘four ideas’:

1.    Safe places to talk
2.    People who understand
3.    Help when you need it
4.    A voice that matters.

Resources and links

• Young Carers Action Day 2026 – more info and resources
• Visit Islington and Camden Young Carers Service website
• View or download: Islington and Camden Young Carers Service leaflet and poster
• Watch: Michelle Homer, Camden Careers and Connexions Adviser – short video (two minutes, 21 seconds)
• Watch: How do we recognise and support our young carers? Parliament Hill School – video (12 minutes)