My young carers portraits are running on the BBC North Yorkshire website, in conjunction with a radio piece planned for tomorrow in which one of the group will talk about their film project.
My multimedia piece can be seen here.
york
trapped on the margins
It feels like a long time since I first wrote about a family of vulnerable and homeless British Gypsies from the York area who are enduring almost medieval living conditions and being moved on every three weeks under an asbo that they were handed five years ago. Well precisely nothing has changed in that time and the story finally made it into print this week. I’m still shocked by their situation, which I’ve seen on several occasions with my own eyes. It’s an incredibly complex and politically sensitive issue of course. I hope the authorities in the area will pull the stops out to help them but I’m not going to hold my breath.
meet Sami…
I’ve been messing with a few of the portraits I took the other day on the set of the young carers’ film project….
who cares
I’ve spent the past couple of days in York, hanging out with an amazing group of young carers who are putting together a short film aimed at raising awareness of the issues faced by teenagers like them. The group, which ranges in age from 12 to 20, are all living with responsibilities that many adults would struggle with – supporting disabled or ill parents or sibilings often both physically and emotionally. Yet they do it while retaining a sense of fun. It was humbling to work with them and to hear their stories and I’m looking forward to trying to piece together some material which will hopefully secure their campaign some wider coverage.
The numbers in the bottom photo, by the way, represent the number of years that each young person has been caring.