House of Lords Speak On Young Carers and Vulnerable Children

Members of the House of Lords debated the Children's Commissioner for England's report “On measuring the number of vulnerable children” on Thursday 14th December 2017.

The motion was put forward by Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, who read the recent piece on one of our Honeypot children in the Evening Standard. Baroness Dean also kindly mentioned the Honeypot Children’s Charity when addressing the House.

"The Honeypot is a charity that does great work giving respite every year," Baroness Dean said in her speech. "Marvellous charities are doing all they can... This is a Dickensian situation in 2017 with which we must come to terms and to which we must respond in a more considered and profound way than we have done until now.”

Baroness Benjamin also spoke on young carers, delivering some shocking stats that are unfortunately all too familiar to us: "More than 50% of young carers reported that their caring role impacted on their mental health, with many suffering depression and anxiety."

Baroness Pitkeathley also reported: "The situation of young carers is much better recognised by health and care professionals, and in education, but they still report being stressed by too much responsibility, being physically tired, missing school, being embarrassed about their situation, being bullied, and having low self-esteem, anxiety, anger or guilt. YoungMinds states that young carers miss an average 48 days of school because of their role, and 68% report having been bullied at some point directly because of having to care for somebody."

Sadly, the topic of young carers only grows more pressing in these times of economic uncertainty, and more vulnerable children fall under the radar. Honeypot are hoping that these issues after gaining prominence in Parliament will also be raised in the Commons.