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Good Morning There’s been a lot of output across the �鶹�� this week focussing on the complexities surrounding the whole issue of young carers. Many memorable quotes and stories stand out, particularly in a feature on the �鶹�� news website which reveals their extraordinary devotion and sacrifice, such as 11 year old Katie who says: “If I cut my body in half, half of it would be like an adult, half of it would be like a child”. Others admit that it’s tough to juggle responsibilities at home with the demands of school and other kind of things that children might otherwise be doing. According to research, 1 in 5 youngsters between the ages of 11 and 16 consider themselves to be a ‘young carer’. That’s 800,000 children in England alone looking after someone at home with an illness or disability. Of course, the fear is that as the burden of social care rises inexorably as more and more people live longer – the pressure on children to look after loved ones in their family circle is increasing all the time. The tension between what is needed in terms of social care and what’s available in terms of resources seems to rise year by the year and there are no easy answers. You can see why Jesus famously pointed to a child and said: “If you want to see the kingdom of God in action (in other words, if you want to see what real faith looks like or what the essence of good neighbourliness is) just look at the devotion and humility of these children! I believe what he meant by this was that these little ones are positive about the future, keen to do whatever they can to help others as they grow into adulthood. But we have to cherish and look after them. And so the coverage of young carers should rightly provoke a response in us, firstly, I believe we should ask if it’s fair that our expectation as a society of these children is not somehow too much and, secondly, if we think it is, what then, can we do about it? Professor Saul Becker, of the University of Sussex, said this week: “We ignore these children at our peril and at the peril of these children’s futures.” And I am sure he has a point. The revelation that so many adults rely on children for essential care is a step in the right direction. But only if we ensure that these young carers are indeed cared for themselves , so that the kingdom-like virtues of optimism and excitement are not extinguished by the burden of expectations placed on their young shoulders- and that their wellbeing into the future is carefully scrutinised.