That’s why we provide financial support to help young carers from armed forces and veteran families to enhance independence, gain qualifications and take well-earned breaks from caring responsibilities.
A young carer is aged 25 and under, who cares for a friend or family member who, due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, cannot cope without their support.
We deliver our Young Carers Fund with generous support from The Scottish Veterans Fund and we are delighted to share a couple of short case studies about recent grants we have awarded across Scotland.
We have changed names and details in order to protect the identities of the families.
Ellie (aged 9) helps a lot around the house to support her father, an Army veteran diagnosed with PTSD, as well as his partner who lives with several medical complications. Having heard about Forces Children Scotland’s Young Carers Grants through peer support received from another charity, an application was submitted to enable Ellie to continue her dancing lessons, which provides a welcome respite from her caring responsibilities. Ellie, who loves hip-hop dancing, has competed in regional and national competitions. Better still, she has progressed to competing internationally and finished an incredible 7th out of hundreds of girls from dance schools across the world.
Ellie’s dad said:
“I didn’t know anything about it (Forces Children Scotland’s Young Carers Grants) until my peer support worker told me about it. The financial support has really helped us out which meant we could put the money towards other stuff Ellie needs for dancing which can cost a lot. The process was really simple and we are really grateful to Forces Children Scotland.”
Poppy (aged 10) supports her mum, who has long-term health challenges, and her dad who lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Due to the cost of living crisis, the family have faced very tough decisions about their limited finances. Forces Children Scotland provided a Young Carer grant to ensure Poppy could continue to attend her dance lessons which give her a welcome break from her caring role.
Tom (aged 5) and Katie (aged 6) help to look after an elder sister who has Global Development Delay. Her condition means that the household can often be very loud and chaotic, presenting considerable challenges to many aspects of day-to-day life. Tom and Katie received grants from Forces Children Scotland to purchase tablets that they could use for quiet downtime from caring responsibilities as well as to provide a further method of logging into the school network in order to manage their coursework.
Want to know more about our Young Carers Fund? Get in touch!
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