John Attard was five when he started caring for his mother, Francesca, who suffers from depression, panic attacks and anxiety.
His father Raymond is a shift worker, so John is responsible for preparing Francesca's medication each morning and packs his own lunch before making his own way to school.
“When she has a panic attack, you've got to try and keep her legs still just in case she might kick the wall or something,” the 13 year old explains on SBS's Insight.
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“I get her medication that she requires for that to calm her down. When she's a bit calmer I give her a chamomile tea with honey – that helps her.”
John says he has 'off' days and gets frustrated that he carries this responsibility. But he knows, ultimately, that it's no-one's fault.
While the family have learnt to cope with her mental illness, Francesca says she feels immense guilt over what her condition is putting John through.
“He's not supposed to be going through this. He's supposed to be a child, not an adult,” she tells Insight. “Is this what I'm putting my son through, my child?”
WATCH: Parents on having their kids as carers.
According to Carers Australia, there are more than 300,000 carers are under the age of 26, with 150,000 under 18.
But President of Young Carers Australia, Dr Tim Moore believes the figure could be much higher.
“It's hard for lots of families to say this is what is going on because we're worried about child protection, we're worried about people scrutinising or judging the families,” he says. “So the stats that we have are probably not as accurate as we'd like.”
The government also reports that young carers are significantly disadvantaged as they have lower levels of educational achievement and workforce participation.
And this is partly due to the significant amount of time young carers spend on caring duties. Research that Dr Moore conducted in 2007 found that young carers spend an average of six and a half hours each day on caring responsibilities.
“It just means they don't have the opportunities that they need to, to enjoy the childhood and youthhood that others would have,” he tells Insight. “Young people do need time away, they need to get to school, they need to have time to socialise."
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INTERACTIVE: A Day in the Life of a Young Carer
Hover over the image and click on the icons to hear these kids and teens describe their typical caring duties.
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