Who are Young  Carers?

You're a young carer if you're under 18 and help to look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem. - NHS

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/support-and…

Who are Young Adult Carers?

Young adult carers are young people aged 18–25 who care, unpaid, for a family member or friend with an illness or disability, mental health condition or an addiction. - Carers Trust

https://carers.org/about-caring/about-young-adult-carers#faq-37

About the story

There must have been children caring for sick or disabled family members throughout human history but for many centuries this had passed unrecorded.

Even 40 years ago, the term young carers does not appear to have existed. 

The film consists of interviews with Young Carers and people from different positions with knowledge of the history of the development of the Young Carer support system in the UK.

The film will begin with interviews with researchers, supporters and policy makers who have contributed to the development of support, focusing not only on factual history but also on individual motivations and feelings.
We will then look at the support that young carers & young adult carers actually receive in the present day, and attend young carer festivals in England and Wales to hear the voices of those involved. We will also cover the support young carers receive when they transition to young adult carers (e.g. support with university education as well as employment support). We will also interview young carers who are advocating for policy. The audience will see the impact and importance of these young carers' own voices to society.

Will you join us in developing this documentary to learn and in thinking about the realities and struggles seen through the lives of those involved in the development of the Young Carers Support Scheme, and the support that young carers need today?

Current collaborators:

Saul Becker - The world leader for Young Carers’ research

Andy McGowan - Policy and Practice Manager at Carers Trust

Russell Minns - Practitioner in Surrey Young Carers 

(All three above are former young carers and have lived through different generations.)

John Bangs OBE - Independent Carers Policy Adviser

Young Carers Alliance

Carers Cymru

Wales Young Carer Festival

Kingston Carers' Network (Kingston Upon Thames)

Action for Carers (Surrey)

And some individual Young Carers

Who produces it?

This film's director & producer is Mari Yamamoto, who is a Japanese filmmaker based in London and plans to produce an hour-length documentary about supporting young carers.  She has an interest in supporting young carers in the UK as she has a disabled sibling herself and is a former young carer.

This documentary will be focusing on the historical development and remaining challenges for young carer support in the UK. The planned film will be aimed at sharing knowledge about young carer rights and UK support systems with partners abroad.

Young Carers Alliance (https://carers.org/young-carers-alliance/young-carers-alliance) from the United Kingdom is looking to strengthen links with other young carers organisations across the world. The film director envisions the potential to aid these discussions and provide a valuable resource for sharing information and understanding young carers support in the UK.

What is the current situation of young carer support outside the UK?

In the director's country of origin, Japan, for example, young carers have no legal definition and no rights are guaranteed. Discussions in the government and a census on support systems have only just begun. At the most recent joint UK-Japan online symposium on support for young carers, many participants had questions and queries about support in the UK.

These participants included a diverse range of teachers, supporters and carers, as well as their families. These people could be part of the main audience for the film.

How the funds will be spent?

We are hoping to raise between £5,000 to £10,000 to filming and complete the documentary.
This money will be used for the travel and accommodation for the volunteer crew catering, covering the expenses of guests, filming permissions, film composer, film poster, volunteer translators and many other logistics and incidentals of documentary filmmaking.

It also includes rewards for young carer support groups or individuals who collaborated in the production of the film.

Towards a public domain as a resource

We aim to share the film in the public domain with young carers, supporters and others involved in building support systems worldwide in the future. 

For this purpose, we are looking for people who are willing to help us translate the film and promotional YouTube channel videos into multiple languages after completion and distribute them worldwide (Rewards will be covered by the funding).

We hope that through this film she can encourage those involved in supporting young carers. Also, we want the film to show that it is important for young carers to be able to have a voice in society and for their voices to be respected and heard in the building of support systems.