Suffolk Family Carers has been shortlisted for a prestigious award in recognition of a schools focused support project.
The organisation is into the final selection of candidates for the Social Care, Advice and Support category, as part of the nationally run Charity Awards 2021.
One of just three finalists for that entry, Suffolk Family Carers was acknowledged for its School Award project, which is designed to help schools work in partnership with the charity, to improve identification and support to young carers.
The initiative runs across 82 schools, and sees a member of staff responsible for young carers within the school, who then liaises with staff and young carers to identity the support they need.
There are young carers awareness sessions for pupils and staff via assemblies, PSHE lessons and CPD courses. A range of wellbeing programmes are also available to the schools.
Kirsten Alderson, CEO of Suffolk Family Carers, said: “As an organisation, our focus is always on delivering outstanding impact for our carers and the community, but when award recognition comes along, it’s always an added bonus by way of recognising the enormous amount of hard work put in by the team.
“We’re particularly proud of the school initiative. There is growing evidence that when young carers are identified and offered appropriate support in schools, their emotional wellbeing and educational and employment outcomes will improve.
“Sadly, without support, many young carers struggle to juggle their education and caring role and find it difficult to concentrate at school.”
This year’s Charity Awards are to be live-streamed online on 10 June.
The event will be hosted by political commentator, writer and comedian Ayesha Hazarika, who will be joined at the ceremony by a host of celebrities. All the shortlisted charities are invited to watch and be part of the live event.
Matthew Nolan, chief executive of Civil Society Media, which organises the Charity Awards, congratulated all the shortlisted charities on making the highly-coveted shortlist.
He said: “Throughout the year we watched with dismay as the charity sector was buffeted by a triple-whammy of losing millions of pounds of fundraising income, being forced to re-engineer services to comply with lockdown and social distancing restrictions, and facing big spikes in demand for those services.
“But 12 months on, we are so impressed with how the sector has risen to the challenges and responded magnificently to the health, social care and economic crisis that Covid-19 has wrought. There is no better time to celebrate charities and their incredible work.”
For more information about Suffolk Family Carers and their School Award project, contact Jessica.searle@suffolkfamilycarers.org or julie.thurston@suffolkfamilycarers.org