There are an estimated 51,000 young carers in the UK, and a report from the Children's Society and the Open University says many suffer depression, social problems and physical difficulties. .

Debbie, a young carer who is now 25, says she believes children are being exploited because of inadequacies in the health and social care system.

"We shouldn't exploit the goodwill of anyone. Nobody, in my mind at least, has the right to do that.

"The bottom line is that it is ridiculous for youngsters to have to look after really sick people.

"But the NHS is falling apart and I can see more of it happening in the future...Sad, really sad. Even sadder when we are talking about kids doing it."

Carers' groups are calling for more co-ordination of services to support young carers.

Debbie has been caring for her diabetic grandmother for 10 years.

She took on the responsibility because her mother was reluctant to do so as the two did not get on.

As she grew older and wanted to have a social life, Debbie began to feel frustrated about her caring duties.

"You look back and say to yourself, well, what did I miss out on, and in some ways I can never answer that question for myself...You push it to the back of your head and keep most of these kind of things bottled up."

Pam

Pam is 38 years old. She began caring for her disabled father at the age of 11, after her mother died.

She also had to look after two younger siblings.

Pam says she had to take a lot of time off school as a result of her caring responsibilities.

She became very isolated from people of her own age and was unable to join after-school clubs or youth organisations.

"All this left me feeling introverted, sometimes depressed and definitely lacking in confidence," she said.

She left school with no qualifications. This was partly due to her poor attendance record at school and partly to the belief that caring for her father would always take precedence over her career.

Although she feels that caring has left her at "everybody's beck and call" and likely to be bullied by others, she does not seek help.

"Caring as a child and now, as I see it, is a question of duty," she said.

"The pain of the past and what it's done to me is enormous, but I'll live with it by myself."

Louise

Louise started looking after her mother, who developed multiple sclerosis, and her brother, at the age of 13.

At first, her mother, who suffering from periods when she was relatively well, tried to deny she was ill in an attempt to maintain the normality of the family.

But soon Louise took on more and more responsibility.

"I look back on that as the worst period of my life. It was just so awful and I felt like I was never going to escape," she said.

"Because I knew my friends weren't going through the same thing, I didn't feel I could talk to them about it and I didn't feel I could talk to my teachers about it."

She says her schoolwork suffered as she was often tired because of her extra responsibilities.

She also found physical caring work, such as cleaning up after her mother had been sick or been to the toilet, distressing.

"I shouldn't have been touching my mum's body and it just didn't feel right. She wasn't happy with it and she was embarrassed. She felt awful about it and it was really horrible."

She had some help from a series of social workers, but "never anybody to build a relationship with or talk to".

One result of her experiences was that she had to go through counselling for mental health problems.

Her mother went into hospital when Louise was 19. Louise now works in a caring profession, as do many young carers.