Real stories
From a shy,
vulnerable
young carer
to a confident
young woman
A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who has a
significant responsibility for caring for a family member or
members – someone like Robyn.
Now 18, Robyn has been caring for
her mother and younger brother
Thomas* since the age of eight, when
her mother began self-harming.
While their father was at work
Robyn quickly took up the mantle
of looking after little Thomas, who
was aged just three at the time.
By the time Robyn was nine she
was making Thomas’s dinner,
doing the family laundry and
preparing Thomas’s packed lunch,
so that he had clean clothes and
didn’t go hungry.
*name changed to protect identity
8 Barnardo’s Today
“I stopped seeing my friends
because I needed to be there for
Thomas. I was worried about what
my friends would say if they knew.”
Robyn’s mother was eventually
diagnosed with severe depression,
which exacerbated her mood swings
and she began drinking. She would
regularly disappear from home
or remain in her bedroom. Life
dramatically changed for everyone.
Robyn’s priority wasn’t her
schoolwork or playing with friends.
The needs of her family came first.
Her role was to look after everyone;
cook dinner, dress her brother,
Autumn 2016