Dear Colleagues,

There is a growing body of international literature on young carers and young adult carers—people under 18 (young carers) or aged 18–24 (young adult carers) who have unpaid caregiving responsibilities for other family members or friends. Much of this literature is research-driven, with other sources of evidence, including young carers’ own accounts, policy and practice guidance, news reports, evaluation studies, media coverage and so on.

In this Special Issue, we invite submissions that examine, report on, discuss or assess either specific or wider approaches, services and interventions that are being used with young carers/young adult carers and their families. What services, approaches or interventions are focused on prevention—and what are they trying to prevent? What services, approaches or interventions are aimed at supporting young carers as children and/or carers? What are the aims of these services and interventions and what is the theory of change that they are built upon? Who has (co-)designed these services and interventions and for what purpose? What is the evidence that they deliver beneficial outcomes for young carers/young adult carers (and their families)? What works, why does it work, where does it work and who does it work with? These are some of the questions that we aim to address in this Special Issue.

In this Special Issue we focus for the first time on bringing together submissions that are concerned with these and other questions and specifically the question of ‘what works’? Articles where researchers/academics have worked with policy makers, practitioners, service providers, and/or young carers/young adult carers in the design, delivery or evaluation of services and interventions are especially welcome. By drawing together this research in one place we intend for this Special Issue to inform the future development of policy, practice and services for young carers/young adult carers internationally.

Prof. Dr. Saul Becker
Guest Editor

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• young carers
• young adult carers
• young caregivers
• vulnerable children
• children and adolescents
• child outcomes
• caregiving responsibilities
• family support
• prevention strategies
• psychosocial interventions
• evaluation
• prevention
• intervention studies
• theory of change
• social policy
• children’s services
• family support