Neraya is only 15 but cannot remember a time when she was not a carer for her two sisters.
She is among the young carers crying out for what they have called crucial support, with Neraya saying she has even had to explain what she does to her teachers.
On Monday, the Welsh government will publish a national strategy for unpaid carers, which will have seven priorities including earlier recognition and mental health support.
Neraya, from Bridgend, said people in her position wanted the chance of “a childhood of our own”.
Carers Wales said the strategy looked positive in parts, but it was “disappointed” manifesto promises would be excluded and raised questions over how it will be funded.
There are an estimated 5.8 million unpaid carers in the UK, external, 170,000 of whom are young.
The 2021 Census said this included about 120,000 carers, aged five to 17 in England and 8,200 in Wales.
Scottish government recognised there were 42,050 unpaid carers identified in the 2021-22 Carers Census.
Neraya’s sisters have varying needs and she helps with practical things such as helping them get ready for school, as well as emotional support, and said there was a lack of understanding about the sacrifices young carers make.
“There’s not the understanding that you might not have been able to go somewhere because we had some sort of problem within the household because my sister was ill and I’m worrying about my sister, that kind of thing,” she said.
Neraya said she used to get “picked on” because people did not know what was happening with her siblings and others tended to assume they were just “naughty”.
Once, in primary school, she said she was called to stand in front of her class and explain what she did because “teachers themselves didn’t understand what it was”.
Being a carer does not take away from her life, she said, but having support and being made to feel “valid” would give people like her “the chance to have a… childhood of our own at the same time”.
The Welsh government said its strategy would focus on seven priority areas, shaped by conversations with carers with the aim of improving early recognition, access to support and respite, and better information on their rights.
It also indicated more support for mental health and wellbeing.
