We say the kids we work with are superheroes who don’t wear capes. Providing round-the-clock care for the people they love is something they don’t think twice about – but it can also cost them their childhoods.
There’s one family I support pretty much every day, where a six-year-old and a nine-year-old look after their mother. She has a host of health conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung condition that causes breathing difficulties.
Coronavirus has meant she has to shield at home and the kids are with her 24/7. If you ask the six-year-old how Mam is, he’ll say, “Oh, she’s dying” because she has terrible anxiety and depression, so that’s what she believes.