Young Carers Leading the Way to Quality Services
The Young Carers service in Waltham Forest works with young people in the borough who assist in the support of another family member. They received the highest Silver Youth Mark award ever awarded following an assessment of their services by young people.
The Youth Mark assessment of Young Carers was carried out by a group of 3 Youth Mark Assessors (young people aged 17-18) between November 2009 and February 2010. The Youth Mark Assessors interviewed 22 young people participating in Young Carers, 6 staff members and observed Young Carers activities.
The young people who carried out the assessment were impressed by how Waltham Forest Young Carers involved young people in decisions about how the service is run. They do this through a ‘management team' of young people who meet regularly to discuss and decide on how the service is run.
The young carers are also regularly involved in decisions about how money is spent and help raise money. For example they recently did a sponsored walk along the Thames and have also attended meetings with the manager to secure funding.
Staff showed a good understanding of the challenging situations some young carers live in and enabled them to overcome barriers to attending the service, for example, they provided a minibus to transport them to and from sessions.
The young carers themselves identify strongly with the service and make an extra effort to help each other out.
One young carer said:
"We are a big family here."
The young people also found that Waltham Forest Young Carers are aware that there are more Young Carers in the borough than can currently be accommodated by the service. The Youth Mark assessors suggested that Young Carers should collect information about the number of young carers, so as to make a case for more provision.
The Youth Mark assessors suggested a regular award ceremony at which the Young Carers can receive certificates for their contribution to the group. The young carers were also keen to organise a regular talent contest.
Nik Smith, Manager of Waltham Forest Young Carers said:
"We wanted to ensure the service did not ‘do to' people, but rather ‘did with' people, so we thought an inspection that focused on the people the service was serving would start the process of the service user leading.
I would like to thank the Youth Mark young people and team. Throughout the process they have been professional and easy to work with and their reporting reflects the expertise, depth and understanding shown during this inspection. I am immensely impressed by Youth Mark and the young people involved."
