Deinze (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The VTI in Deinze, located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, is going to ensure that students who are informal caregivers receive more support. A survey indicates that 1 in 7 students assumes partial care of a member of the family or household chores.
The VTI in Deinze is about to support students as informal caregivers more. One in seven students assumes partial responsibility for a family member or shares responsibilities for housework, according to a poll.
“The number of students who are informal caregivers is still underestimated too often, and the problem remains too often under the radar,”
says Evelyn Geerdens of informal care organization Samana.
Last year, the VTI in Deinze got signals from students, who frequently do household chores or even share the care responsibility of a family member. That is why the school, together with the informal care organization Samana, started a project for an “informal care-friendly school environment”, as reported by VRT.
A sample of nearly 700 pupils of the school was surveyed, and it came to light that 102 pupils, that is, 1 in 7, are young carers.
“We knew about a small number of pupils, but we were still shocked by how many there really are,”
says Koen Vangheluwe, director of the VTI in Deinze.
“Also because it turns out that they take on those care and household tasks for longer than 3 months,”
says Vangheluwe.
“Schools often underestimate how many students are actually caregivers,”
says Evelyn Geerdens of the Samana care organisation.
However, in Deinze, the figure for the VTI is lower than the Flemish average; one in five pupils in Flanders is a caregiver (Samana figures).
“Young people who take on the role of caregiver still too often remain under our radar”,
says Evelyn Geerdens of Samana.
“Young people often find it very natural to take on these tasks, because they often get involved in them from childhood,”
says Geerdens.
“It doesn’t feel like an extra responsibility to them, while they take on much more responsibility than their fellow students.”
“Young caregivers don’t talk about it openly either, precisely because they think it’s perfectly normal to take on these tasks,”
says Geerdens. 16-year-old Ruben, one of those young caregivers, says the same.
“You just get into it,”
he says.
“It happens very gradually, until recently I never really thought about the fact that I do quite a lot at home.”
“For example, I take care of the typical household tasks: washing dishes, cleaning or going to the store,”
says Ruben. He has also been taking care of his sick father for a year now.
“I give him his medication or help him out of bed, for example.”
“I call myself a ‘light caregiver’, because it often depends on the week to week, depending on my father’s health. But I still notice that it is emotionally difficult, especially in combination with school.”
“I am more often irritable or stressed when I am unexpectedly assigned another school task,”
says Ruben.
“Things can get very busy very quickly. In class, I sometimes have difficulty paying attention, especially when things are going badly with my father.”
Young carers are more often absent from school and are more often late.
“Precisely because of the role of carer that they take on,”
says Geerdens.
“We also see that they more often than other pupils do not finish their secondary school.”
The role of informal caregiver also has an influence on their later study choices.
“If they continue studying, they often choose a care education, because they feel more comfortable with that. While education that is further away from home and for which they have to live in a student room, for example, are not considered. Because it is not compatible with the role of informal caregiver that they take on,”
Geerdens explains.
There is no one solution for all young carers.
“Every situation is different and requires a specific approach,”
says Geerdens.
“Although there are some tools to support and help them, and especially to notice when they don’t talk about it.”
VTI Deinze is now going to take action with Samana to support these young carers better.
“Our religious education teachers and student counsellors are available as confidants; they offer them a listening ear,”
says director Vangheluwe.
The young carers also receive a so-called ‘carer’s pass’.
“This way, the student doesn’t have to tell his whole story every time he is late or hasn’t submitted an assignment.
“An immersion day was also organized, where all pupils could experience carrying out these care tasks. And with a letterbox, the young carers can ask for help or share their story in an accessible way.”
What is the history of informal caregiving among students in Deinze?
Unpaid care provided by family members has been the mainstay of the support network for people with chronic illness or disability, long underappreciated. Internationally and in many areas, including Belgium, informal caregivers struggle with the coordination of complex care, fragmented provision of support services, and the reconciliation of caregiving with other commitments.
Informal caregiving has classically been underreported, particularly in younger demographics such as students.
In places such as Deinze, surveys show that roughly one in every seven students takes up caregiving or household roles, a proportion that is often underreported. With this underestimation, the particular needs of student caregivers have not been visible, with little institutional support.
