A growing number of empirical studies deal with children's participation in care relationships in the family. Based on a review of empirical findings in the UK and Germany, this article discusses care-giving children in terms of vulnerability and agency. The focus is set on understandings of family life as interdependent and reciprocal relationships between parents and their minor children. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and social-political programmes in the UK are analysed with regard to their influence on child carers' agency and participation as social citizens. The article contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of child carers, and contributes to the development of a theory of care. (Contains 8 notes.)