The awareness, visibility and support for young carers across Europe: a Delphi study

Across Europe, young carers (YCs) and their need for support receive
limited attention in the media, policy and empirical research, even
though, similar to adult carers, they also provide care to ill family
members. The Delphi study, a qualitative research methodology, which
provides the focus for this article, had the overall aim of exploring
existing successful strategies to support YCs. Compared to YCs, even less
is known about adolescent young carers (AYCs), a group that is in a
critical life transition phase. The study forms part of an EU Horizon 2020
funded research project on AYCs aged 15–17 years old. A two-round Delphi
study was conducted with 66 experts on YCs from 10 European countries.
Topics included: (i) visibility and awareness-raising of YCs at local,
regional, and national levels, (ii) current interventions to support YCs,
and (iii) future strategies to support YCs. Experts reported a lack of
visibility and awareness about YCs in general, and AYCs in particular.
Although awareness is slowly increasing in most countries, with the UK
ranked highest, experts acknowledged that it remains challenging to
identify YCs in many countries. Furthermore, the level and type of support
available for YCs differs, with most countries mainly offering support on
a local level. Diverse views were expressed regarding future strategies to
support YCs. Experts highlighted the importance of specific legislation to
formalise the rights of YCs, and the issue of whether young people should
be safeguarded from caregiving or if this should be considered part of
regular family life. They also emphasised the relevance of available
integrated support services for YCs, including schools, family, health and
social care. In most European countries, there is a lack of awareness and
visibility on YCs. Identification of YCs is a crucial first step and there
is need for a common definition of YCs, together with greater
opportunities for young adults to identify themselves as YCs.