Young Carers Action Day on the 16^th March saw Gloucestershire Young Carers reaching out to demand action for young carers in the county and beyond and even though it was all held virtually this year the impact was huge!

Some of the highlights from the day included:

• Staff and supporters were proud to join in with #hair2care as they sported a fun or crazy hairstyle for the day to show their support for young carers
• Short films were shared across our social media telling young adult carers stories and sharing their dreams for the future, young carers also shared skill cards highlighting the skills they have developed through caring.
• Staff member and Young Adult Carer were interviewed by Radio DJ Anna King about the challenges of being a young carer on her BBC Glos morning show.
• 16 schools leads from across the county attended our ‘virtual tea with GYC’ hosted by our forum members.  They joined other professionals across the day making pledges to show how they will take action for young carers in their setting.
• We shared GYC Development Lead Mandy Bell’s blog about supporting children who have parents with a mental illness that was published on the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust website.
• Gloucestershire joined other young carers organisations across the UK lighting up buildings purple to mark the day and help end the day in a poignant way.

You can still do your bit for young carers in 2021 by signing and sharing this petition that was developed by Young Carers National Voice, a forum including young carers from Gloucestershire that works together to make positive change.

The petition is calling on Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, to make it law for schools to support young carers.

Gloucestershire is lucky to have well established Young Carers School Leads in all of it secondary schools, thanks to the work of GYC and support from the local authority.  However in many parts of the country this is not the case and many young carers go unsupported and unrecognised in schools.

The petition is nearly at 1000 signatures in just a few weeks since it was launched young carers have asked ‘everyone who cares about our futures’ to sign the petition.

https://www.change.org/supportyoungcarers