We are young carers

[lil miss]

Hi there! Me and my partner have a 2 year old dd together and as of august this year, we have been kinship carers for his 12 and 10 year old sisters and 8 year old brother (who has adhd). My partner is 24 and i am 21. The kids are a handful as 2 of them have behaviour problems. I love having them and cant imagine life without them now. We arent sure how long we will be caring for them (it could be 2 years or more). We live in a small country town and their mother (my mother in law) lives only 100 or so metres away. she comes over almost daily (which she is not meant to do), and the kids often sneek over to her place. The kids go to respite care once a month for 3 nights (over the weekend), which gives everyone a nice break.

The closest full time carers we know of is 40 minutes north of us and with no transport it makes it hard for us (mainly me as im the one who deals with kids mostly as my partner works full time). I would likme to meet more carers of any age, just to talk about the various issues and benefits of caring for children (especialy when there are children from your own relationship involved), but i would also like to get an idea on how many carers there are my age?

[TwoSweetPeas]

Wow I take my hat off to you:yelclap:. What an inspiration esp at your age. You must truely be a lovely couple, I cant imagine the strain esp with mother inlaw living just down the road. Im not a carer yet so cant give any advise, just wanted to say I think your amazing!

Keep up the great work, im sure the kids are loving you for it:yes:

[lil miss]

thank you for your lovely message. When people say to me "you're doing such a wonderful job, not many people you age would do it" i shrug my shoulders... to me its not that big of a deal. I am just doing whats best for the kids and would like to think anyone in my situation would do the same. It's hard, especially since we just found out that we are expecting our second baby, but i know we can do it.

[Ilovemy2munchkins]

Hi lilmiss,

To you and everybody else out there who is a carer or foster parent, you are all an inspiration to me and thank goodness for people like you! I have been reading some posts in this section and you all have hearts of gold. I understand lilmiss what you mean by saying your just doing what is best for the kids but believe me, it is a VERY BIG deal!! :)

Many of these darling children have never known love, warmth, kindness or even had the basic care that they are entitled to have and that many of us give our children without a second thought. Some of these angels have even suffered horribly for it and ended up with special needs and disabilities (I refer to a previous post I just read which reduced me to tears). So for people like you who are willing to take them into your lives and shower them with love I have nothing but admiration and praise and think you are all the most wonderful, beautiful human beings ever to walk on this earth.

I am considering being a carer myself as I know there are so many children are out there in these heartbreaking circumstances and I feel I need to do something to help. I feel I have lots of love to give and this is something they truly need. I have signed up as a volunteer for an organisation that helps abused and neglected children and hope to begin by being a mentor/friend to a child in need and also get involved with charity work or counselling. I have 2 young children myself and I am worried about whether I will be able to give enough of my time to all children if I become a carer. I appreciate it is difficult in many ways but also extremely rewarding. So what you are doing, is again, AMAZING, particularly considering you are a young mum yourself! You should be very proud of yourself, and I can only hope I raise my own children to be as loving, selfless and generous as yourself and all those people doing what you are doing without a second thought.

Huge hugs to you all. I hope I, too can do what you are doing in the near future. The world needs more people like you.:)

:hugs: