Published
Video length: 27 min
Correspondent. Young carers: courageous children
Correspondent. Young carers: courageous children
(SPECIAL SENDING / FRANCE 2)
Youth often rhymes with carefreeness and freedom, but not for Isaline, Elwynn and Margot. These three teenagers are “helpers” to a sick mother, a sister or a father or a brother in difficulty.
Isaline, 14, lives alone with a 100% disabled mother. Since her father left home two years ago, she has taken care of almost everything. Margot, 15, says “not having a choice” and takes care of her 10-year-old sister with Down syndrome to make her parents’ complicated lives easier: you have to help her get dressed, go to the toilet, shower… without forgetting the games. Margot is on all fronts, with infinite patience, which leaves her little time for herself.
Elwynn, 15, spends her week at a boarding school in Amiens. When she returns home on weekends, she helps her bipolar father, her autistic brother, and takes over from her mother, who is in the middle of a burnout. Preparing the pillbox, organizing medical appointments… constant stress.
No help or status
At the age of carelessness and lightness, Isaline, Elwynn and Margot therefore face, like adults, a difficult daily life. Is it really the role of these minors to assume all these responsibilities? “Special Envoy” decided to highlight the role of these courageous teenagers.
For child caregivers, there is no financial assistance, no status, no social or psychological support. There are around a million teenagers in France who help their sick parents.
A report by Guillaume Barthélémy, Barthelemy Rigaud, Marc Woudenberg and Nicolas Vescovacci / Tony Comiti Productions, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on April 25, 2024.
> Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the franceinfo website and its mobile application (iOS & Android), “Magazines” section.