Young Carers

Australia has an invisible army of children on caring duties. "When she has a panic attack, you've got to try and keep her legs still just in case she might kick the wall or something. I hold her until she calms down. I get her medication. When she's a bit calmer I give her a camomile tea with honey, that helps her." – John Attard, 13. This week, meet some awesome kids doing some pretty grown-up stuff. Across Australia, young people, many in their teens, are caring for a parent, sibling or other family member. It could be physical support like lifting a parent out of a wheelchair, or emotional support like calming down a parent having an anxiety attack. It could be as ordinary as making a cup of tea and washing the dishes, to highly personal care helping a parent in the bathroom. One estimate puts the number of under-18s doing caring work at 150,000. So how do they cope? How do they get a break? And how do the parents feel about being cared for by their children?