Hi there
Thank you for your message. It sounds like you are going through a difficult time right now at home and you seem confused about what to do for the best. You have done the right thing by writing to me. At the moment it seems like you have a lot of responsibility at home as you care for your mum and your younger brother but it’s important that you have support too. You seem to have thought through things maturely as you mentioned you had thought about speaking to your GP about getting your mum some support. It seems like you want the best for your mum and from what you have mentioned she needs more support.
It’s a parent’s responsibility to care for their children and it seems that your mum needs more help to get her back to the stage where she may be able to care for you and your brother again. Perhaps you could think about speaking to your GP and talk to him/her about your mum and your concerns about going into care. Your GP may decide to talk to you about contacting social services to get your family more support but social services are there to help young people and their families. Social services try to keep families together by offering regular support but if they feel your mum isn’t able to care for you and your brother to keep you both safe they may look into what other family members you both could live with.
I’m wondering, have you talked to anyone else about what is happening at home? If not perhaps you could think about talking to another member of your family like an aunt, grandparent or maybe even a friend’s mum as they may be able to give you more support and advice. Maybe think about talking to someone at school about what’s happening for you and remember like your GP your school also has a responsibility to make sure that you are safe and may want to talk to you about getting more support for you and your family.
You don’t have to cope with this alone. ChildLine counsellors will listen and talk to you about your options for support. If you would like to talk about this further you are welcome to sign up for an account and talk 1-2-1 with a ChildLine counsellor online, or contact Childline’s 24/7 free helpline on 0800 1111. You might also want to check out our message boards to see what other young people say about how they are coping as a young carer.
I hope this helps. Take care
Sam