There 2 Care: The Voice of Young Carers

Raising awareness about young carers

Title: There 2 Care: The Voice of Young Carers

Funded by: Plymouth Children's Services, Plymouth City Council

Location: Plymouth

Date: 2008

Project partners: The Zone, Plymouth

University of Plymouth PI:

Dr Kayla Parker

Young carers are children who have to look after members of their family because a parent is ill, has had an accident, is disabled, or suffers from problematic substance use, and cannot be the head of the family for other reasons. A young carer takes on the responsibilities for their family, often in very difficult circumstances, and ensures that siblings and parents are fed, that the home is cleaned and that bills and rent are paid.

In many cases, young carers are responsible for administering prescribed medicines and other medical needs. A young carer does all this as well as studying at school, and, typically, has little or no time for simply ‘being a child’, playing, or focusing on their own needs.

What the young carers say:

"I never feel that I am a 10-year-old girl."

"Because my brother's disabled, my mum and dad put loads of pressure on me to do well at school."

"I wish dragons were real, so they could eat up all the bullies."

The short animated film, There 2 Care: The Voice of Young Carers, is a training tool for healthcare professionals, teachers and children and aims to raise awareness about young carers.

The film was created by Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore in collaboration with young people who care for members of their family, and young carer workers at The Zone, Plymouth. The two main characters, twins Sharpay and Sharpaina – one sister cares for the other who is physically disabled and uses a wheelchair – are seen making a documentary video, interviewing and filming different young carers about their personal experiences, fears, hopes, and advice for other children in similar circumstances.

Ever wondered what it's like to be a young carer? This short film explores all aspects of being a young carer, from the jobs they do to what they worry about. This film is as honest as they get, because a group of young carers helped to make it.

Sharpay
Young carer, 10 years old

Project overview

To make the film, the researchers set up an animation studio at The Zone on Union Street, Plymouth, where the Young Carers Project was based. The children shared their personal stories during workshops and designed the characters, which were sculpted in 'low-tech' coloured modelling clay; they named the characters, came up with the film's storyline and collaborated on the animated scenes using 'high-tech' computer-based technology. They also composed a catchy song, 'There 2 Care: The Voice of Young Carers', which became the title of the film.

Ensuring confidentiality was of the utmost importance, as the researchers were working with extremely sensitive subject matter and recording the testimony of children who are already vulnerable and subjected to discrimination because they care for their families. The children said that bullying at school and a lack of understanding by their teachers were key causes of distress to them.

The researchers worked closely with the care workers to put in place a comprehensive ethical protocol and formulate a thorough risk assessment for the project to ensure that the Every Child Matters agenda was addressed fully.

To protect the children's identities and ensure confidentiality, the film represents the experiences of several young carers and does not depict the circumstances of any one individual. The researchers treated the young carers as their equals throughout, and discussed the progress of the production at every stage so that it would truly represent their voice.

At their first meeting with the young carers, the researchers explained that the children's contributions would be anonymous in order to protect them and their families. So that they could be credited on the film, each child was given the chance to choose a 'super-cool nickname' for themself, which only they would know. This approach ensured that There 2 Care was as close as possible to the young carers' perspective and experience, and that the children had ownership of their film.

The researchers worked on the animated film with the young carers in two groups. The youngest children in one group – Chloe, Pancake God, Ginger, Natasha, Sir, KJ, and Missy – worked under the name, 'Where's Lunch? Productions', with the older children – Trigger, Coolchick, Sporty, Koolgirl and Ronaldo's L'il Princess – as 'Guide Dog Productions'. The children were recorded singing their song, 'There 2 Care', which can be heard at the start of the film.

Expertise and background

Kayla and Stuart are experienced in working with vulnerable and hard-to-reach individuals and groups and were able to implement a collaborative, process-based methodology in which everyone involved, from the youngest children to the care workers, had agency and were able to actively contribute to the project and its outcomes.

During this project, I worked with Sue Brain, a very experienced manager of research projects involving children and issues such as abuse and prostitution. During the production of 'There 2 Care', Sue was the Director of the Young Carers Project, and we’re grateful for her commitment, expertise and in-depth knowledge and understanding; she enabled the risk assessment to be a collaborative, dialogic process which considered the effect of the project on all participants, children and adults, including its impact in the future.

Dr Kayla Parker
Lecturer in Media Arts

Media Innovation Award winner

There 2 Care won the Media Innovation Award 2009 for Collaboration between Business and Young People. The winner was announced at a gala award ceremony at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol on Thursday evening 12th March 2009. There 2 Care was praised by the judges for its "amazing animation", and beat stiff competition from the other finalists 'Young Motion Plymouth' and Watershed Media Centre’s 'Electric December'. At the ceremony in Bristol, Helen Yeo and Jasmin Mitchell, along with young carer workers from the Plymouth Young Carers Project, accepted the award on behalf of all those involved.