Up at 5am, care for mum and siblings then two buses to school. How does your day start?

• Gwynedd Young carer Jasmine tells of her day for Carers Week
• Action for Children supports young carers in Gwynedd and across Wales and the UK

Action for Children’s Gwynedd Young Carers service is marking Carers Week (10-16 June) by telling Jasmine’s story of how she cares for her mum and siblings while making sure she also gets to school.

Jasmine’s day starts at 5am and after making sure her brother and sister are ready for school, she takes two buses to school before returning home to resume her caring duties.

Jasmine Gould, (15) from the Caernarfon area, said: ‘I look after my mum who has various disabilities and struggles with everyday tasks like walking or picking things up or simply eating so I look after her and my sister and my brother. I wake my mum up in the morning make sure everybody else is up and ready for school. I help my mum get changed and have a shower and make sure everything is in order before heading to school.’

Gwynedd Young Carers work to make the young person’s caring role a more positive experience by offering emotional support, information and guidance, activities, short breaks, training and consultation opportunities. Every year, the service takes young carers to Bangor University for a residential stay to taste college life and learn how accessible university can be for young people with caring responsibilities.

Team leader at Gwynedd Young Carers, Maria Bulkeley, said: ‘Jasmine’s caring responsibilities would be daunting for anyone let alone a 15-year-old pupil. The sad thing is her story isn’t unique with around 30,000 carers in Wales under the age of 25.

‘We provide a range of support for young people with our Bangor University partnership showing that life away from caring can be fulfilling and a career can be built which many young carers feel won’t be open to them. Carers Week is a great opportunity to highlight the role of young and young adult carers aged 8-25 like Jasmine across Wales and the UK who work around the clock providing care and support to a family member.’

Jasmine added: ‘Action for Children has helped me have time off my responsibilities and helped me calm the panic and stress of being at home as well as gaining new friends and being more confident in who I am. The young carers project shows me I’m not alone and that I have people who have similar problems and understand where I’m coming from and how I’m feeling.’

For further media information please contact Alastair Love, media officer at Action for Children, on 02920 347068 / 07872 675688 / alastair.love@actionforchildren.org.uk