"I want the world to know about young carers”: Meghan’s story
Every day, 15-year-old Meghan takes on responsibilities that most teenagers will never have to face. By acting as a young carer for her 12-year-old sister, Mia.
Meghan's sister, Mia, has autism, OCD, and a learning disability.
She also struggles with her mental health, which can sometimes lead to self-harm and emotional meltdowns.
With their dad, Paul, working as a nurse, and mum, Emma, serving as a police officer, opposite shifts are part of family life.
For Meghan, this means that she's relied upon to help Mia through everyday routines such as getting ready in the morning, and during bath time.
To bond with her sister, Meghan and Mia enjoy using fun phone filters to take photos.
Mia is limited verbally, so creating photo albums has become a special way for the sisters to connect.
A lot of time for me it's being a third parent rather than a sibling...I feel like I'm living her life instead of my own.
Meghan
Mia’s social worker recognised Meghan as a young carer and referred her to Action for Children’s Pembrokeshire Young Carers service.
She attends a monthly youth group and fun days out, which helps her receive the much needed break from her caring role.
For Meghan, the service has been a real lifeline, where she can focus and enjoy herself without having to worry about her responsibilities at home.
Meghan is determined that being a young carer won’t define her future.
After her GCSEs, she hopes to study drama, art, and English literature at colleague, with dreams of becoming a musician, actress and artist.
She's also a passionate advocate for young carers, and successfully wrote to her local council to reopen the respite centre used by Mia.
As young carers, we need to speak up about our struggles to get help because people don't really see us.
Meghan
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