Children as young as five are being robbed of their childhoods as they toil for 35 hours a week caring for their parents.
As many as 2,000 youngsters in Perth and Kinross alone are being forced to put their lives on hold.
Almost 200 of those are between five and eight years old, with no choice but to care for adults affected by mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction or disability.
Similar figures have been reported across neighbouring areas including the rest of Tayside and Fife.
The worrying picture is replicated across the country, with new Government figures revealing one-in-eight young people now have caring responsibilities at home.
Many have no support network, no hope of a change in circumstances and, as a result, see their schooling and future prospects obliterated.
A looming funding crisis is also hampering efforts to provide them with the support they need.
The depth of the problem facing Scotland’s communities has been highlighted by the PKAVS Young Carers Service, which helps children in Perth and Kinross.
Together with sister services in Dundee and Fife it has seen a staggering rise in the number of young carers.
The PKAVS project supported just 75 young carers in 2010, but now supports 192, 24 of them aged between five and eight.
The figure represents a staggering 156% increase in less than three years.
They are simply the most pressing cases, however, and the project fears it may only be reaching one in eight young carers in the region.
The Dundee Young Carers Project currently supports 175 carers aged from five to 16 and has seen referrals rise from 88 in 2011-12 to 120 in 2012-13.
PKAVS Young Carers Project co-ordinator Raymond Jamieson told The Courier: “The number of young people taking on caring roles within the home is growing at an incredible rate.
“For a lot of them there is not an exit point and they will continue to act as carers throughout their childhood years.
“The major problem we have is that we are way beyond saturation point given our current finances and the staff that we can call upon.
“Our project cost more than £200,000 last year of which £32,000 was provided by Perth and Kinross Council and it is an increasing challenge to find that money.
“We need to expand in order to meet the demand for our services, but in these tough times it is a challenge simply to maintain the status quo.”
Mr Jamieson added: “Our research shows that some of our young carers are working 35 hours on a weekly basis on top of their schooling and that is both primary and secondary pupils.
“Some have huge caring roles and others lesser and so we prioritise those who have no other support network.
“There are many young people who simply get no respite from caring roles.”
An increase in resources including guaranteed funding has enabled these additional young carers to receive support.
Anyone who would like to support their local project can find out more about the PKAVS project at pkavs.org.uk, the Dundee project at youngcarers.co.uk or Fife services at fifeyoungcarers.co.uk.