The 24-month project titled “TOGETHER - A whole family approach for young carers” lasts from the 1st of February 2020 to the 31st of January 2022 and is funded by Erasmus+ K2 programme. It is coordinated by Diakonisches Werk Berlin Stadtmitte (DWBS) in Germany, in cooperation with Social Cooperative Activities for Vulnerable Groups - K.S.D.E.O. “EDRA” (Greece), Carers Trust (UK), Anziani e Non-Solo Società Cooperativa Sociale – ANS (Italy) and Eurocarers – Association Européenne Travaillant Avec Et Pour Les Aidants Non-Professionnels (Belgium).

Young carers are children and young persons under 18 providing significant or substantial care, assistance or support to family members who have a disability, suffer from chronic illness, mental health challenges or any other condition associated with a need for care. As a result, they assume a level of responsibility that would usually be associated with an adult. As such, children who live with and care for parents or other family members who are ill or disabled may require support in their capacity as children and/or as young carers.

Young carers are still very much invisible. On one hand, significant proportion of young carers have not disclosed their caring responsibilities to their school, they are no more likely to be in contact with social services than are their peers, and only a minority have had an assessment of their needs or been informed about sources of help. On the other hand, many families do not recognise their children as ‘carers’, while some children do not recognise or identify with the role.

Building on this information, the TOGETHER project aims to support social inclusion and engagement of young carers, helping both young carers and professionals to adopt a whole family approach by:

1. encouraging members of the household (including the care-recipient) to communicate openly about the illness and caring
2. clearly explaining the condition of the care-recipients to the younger members of the family
3. helping relationship building within the family
4. encouraging professionals to take a whole-family approach when working with care recipients

The ultimate goal is to have an impact on families where there are caring responsibilities and where there is a young member, in order to prevent/reduce negative impacts on him/her, as well as improving his/her well-being, social inclusion and community engagement.

Website: https://togethereuproject.eu/

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