Children as carers: the impact of parental illness and disability on children's caring roles

The nature and extent of young caring in the UK continue to be a feature of a growing number of research programmes motivated by a children and carers' rights philosophy. However, the context in which young caring occurs as a result of parental ill-health or disability can only be fully understood by examining the findings and implications of medical research into parental impairment, and the social movements that have served to redefine the concept of 'disability' in society. This paper examines the arguments put forward by medical researchers, by those proposing a social model of disability and by those who have specifically investigated the conditions and experiences of young carers. It argues that children's caring roles within families where there is parental illness or disability need to be understood not only as a reflection of the nature of the medical condition itself, but as a consequence of complex family, social and economic processes. A 'whole family' approach is proposed, where the needs of children and parents are respected and responded to.