For Young Carers Awareness Day this year we wanted to highlight and pay tribute to all young carers out there. We work indirectly with a lot of young carers who may help to support a sibling or other family member who has learning disabilities or autism.

For example our Siblings group on a Monday is a club aimed specifically for young carers like this.

Read the story of one of our families here:

Centre 404 has been a huge support for the girls. They both have the opportunity to attend a club where they can make great friends and engage in activities which they can enjoy to their full potential. For P, she was given a few weeks cross over time on both the Juniors Club and the Youth Group and with her new and current 1:1 worker, to help with her transition. With her Autism change can be difficult to manage, but this cross over time attending both clubs meant she was well supported, prepared and made a successful transition easy for everyone. It also demonstrated her progress in enhancing her life skills and independence throughout her time on the Juniors Club as she was well able to move to a new club and settle into this new peer group. For S, sometimes the sibling of a child with a LD’s doesn’t get the same opportunities or support as their sibling. They can feel as if they are not getting the same opportunities to do activities, but the Siblings Club lets her have this. She has made great friends with the other members who are in the same situation as her and has said that they understand her more than friends outside of the club which stops her feeling isolated socially. It’s also nice that the support workers know both P and S and so can support the whole family. My daughters can bond over both attending Centre 404 clubs, as often provision for CYP with LD’s and CYP without LD’s the clubs are done separately. When they have the opportunity to attend things together at Centre 404 they can both enjoy it as they are well supported, P has her 1:1 support to access all activities and therefore S can simply enjoy herself and not have to think about any of her caring responsibilities. Centre 404 is very inclusive and supportive and I am thrilled my daughters have these clubs funded by CiN to attend. There is something for everyone and it benefits the whole family.’