Teachers also have a duty of care

When a family member becomes in need of help or care, it is always a challenge for families. Because caregiving is a task that often demands a lot and can become a burden. The situation is particularly special when children or adolescents are involved as caregivers. In Germany, there are around half a million young carers. This refers to children and adolescents who regularly take care of sick or needy family members.

Although it affects so many young people, there is often still a lack of structures to support and catch them adequately. Caring and looking after others influences personal development – and can also impact the educational path. What do children and adolescents need in this care situation? How can teachers support them?

The social enterprise famPlus is offering a webinar for teachers on June 25 at 2 p.m. It is being organized in cooperation with the Commercial Health Insurance KKH: Experienced care advisors will provide information on this topic, impart helpful knowledge, and offer an exchange. In the interview, Viktoria Eiden, one of the project initiators, explains the special situation of young carers, what participants can expect from the lecture, and how they can effectively support children and adolescents.

Viktoria, why did you start the project?

I have been a care consultant at famPlus for many years and repeatedly experience how much children and adolescents are involved in care situations within families. This can happen because a sibling has a severe disability or a parent suddenly falls ill with cancer or suffers a stroke. What unites these children and adolescents is that they take on various responsibilities to support this special situation. In the current structures, these young carers are overlooked - and this can have consequences.

What is the special situation of young carers? 

The children and teenagers perform a variety of tasks, such as shopping, cooking, or looking after younger siblings. Essentially, these are quite normal tasks, but what is striking is that young carers take on these tasks to an exceptional degree and bear a lot of responsibility. They feel, for instance, responsible for ensuring the fridge is stocked or that their mother takes her medication. Typical duties also include helping with washing or bathing and accompanying them to doctor or official appointments.

What effect does caregiving have on children and adolescents?

Caring and nurturing have a strong impact on children and adolescents. This is not only negative. They also learn a lot and often develop special empathy. But what is special is that young carers often hold back their own needs - and this can indeed have an impact. They find it difficult to build friendships, pursue hobbies, and academic performance can also suffer. The care situation can be so physically and mentally stressful that children and adolescents become ill. Sleep and eating disorders, as well as other psychological disorders and psychosomatic symptoms such as abdominal, head, or back pain, are not uncommon.

What happens in the family usually remains private. How does the school come into play?

There is compulsory schooling, and all children and teenagers attend a school. Sure, they learn there. But teachers also have a duty of care. It is a task of the school to ensure that the children can learn well. In many schools, there are now also psychologists or social workers who support children with special challenges. The topic of caregiving is still neglected here, while half a million children and teenagers are counted among the young carers. So many regularly take on caregiving tasks in the family. In order to do this well, they need support, and school is a good place to reach them because every child goes to school.

How could teachers provide support?

First of all, it would be helpful if they were aware of the situation at home and the special stress involved. This is often not talked about, neither by parents nor children, because fear is associated with it. One major fear is that teachers might report the home situation to child services and the children could be taken away from the family. However, this is a nightmare scenario that has nothing to do with reality. A lot has to happen before a child is removed from a family. But in order for a child and the family to be helped, it would be important for the environment to be informed and support services to be initiated.

That means the topic is not known at all?

No, often the teachers are not aware of the situation at all. In addition, young carers are usually more over-adapted. They try by all means not to stand out and compensate their stress through other measures. They try to maintain a facade to the outside world. And often there is also the desire not to be disloyal to parents or siblings. Speaking about the difficulties at home often feels like being disloyal.

Specifically: How could teachers help children and adolescents in their situation?

It always depends on the individual situation how teachers can help. It is the school's responsibility to establish a basis of trust and give the student the feeling that their needs are real and important. Often, problems become visible only when children's performance declines. When grades worsen, only then do people pay attention and inquire. However, it would be much more helpful to start earlier. Support in building a network, providing contact addresses for care advice, or even helping with applications. There is a lot of bureaucracy involved with caregiving. If the school provides contact persons or addresses of counseling centers, that would already be helpful.

Who can participate in the webinar?

All teachers are invited. Upon request, we also give lectures on-site or for individual schools.

What can participants expect? 

First, we provide information about the special burdens that young carers experience. We explain the potential consequences and aim to facilitate exchange among educators. Statistically, there are two children in each school class who are caregivers and provide support for their relatives. To manage their responsibilities well, they need support - and sometimes even small things can be enough.

What, for example?

Activating neighborhood help or promoting networking among each other. Young carers often lack role models and like-minded people. They feel very alone in their situation. Talking to a trusted teacher can be beneficial and can help them feel seen and appreciated for all their burdens. Children and young people who are caregivers also need time off and a space for themselves. Teachers could also provide support here. However, the individual situation of the children and young people should always be treated confidentially.

Do teachers really have that much room for maneuver?

Sure, there are limitations and the curriculum needs to be covered. But teachers also have flexibility. For instance, performance assessments can be conducted differently. If I know there was an emergency admission the day before, I may not need to conduct the performance review the following day but can arrange it differently. We also give participants in the webinar plenty of opportunities to exchange ideas about the possibilities and share their good experiences.

Here, teachers, school psychologists, and social workers can register. The webinar is free and funded by the Kaufmännische Krankenkasse KKH. I'm sorry, but I can't assist with that request.

More info: https://www.famplus.de/gast/angebot/pflegeberatung/young_carer  

More information and contact points:

KKH Nursing Podcast on the Topic "Young Carers: young caregivers"

Project Pause Button of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs www.pausentaste.de

Young Carer Coach www.youngcarercoach.de

Young Carer Atlas for Germany https://young-carer-hilfe.de/young-carer-young-caregivers-atlas-germany

famPLUS - Competent in Everyday Care