McLean Boys Raise Awareness About Young Caregivers

MCLEAN, VA -- Caregiving has become a job in high demand with retiring Baby Boomers. But two McLean boys are raising awareness about kids like them may also bear caregiving responsibilities at home.

Charlie and A.J. Poole are two local examples of an estimated 1.4 million caregivers ages 8 to 18, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving. The two boys recently shared their experience caring for their late grandmother at the American Association of Youth Caregivers conference in Florida. They are now advocating for schools to offer support to similar kids with this big commitment at home.

For two years Charlie and A.J., now 12 and 14,were caregivers for their grandmother with Alzheimer's. The boys often gave up a lot of free time to help, their mother Sara Poole told Patch. That involved doing homework by their grandmother's side and getting up in the middle of the night to calm her.

They couldn't invite friends over as often, which was a strain on their confidence. But the boys have grown in other ways, learning values like empathy. After all, caring for an Alzheimer's patient can be trying at times.

"They were worrying kind of about how Grandma was and what was going on at home more than worrying about the normal kid stuff like 'what am I going to wear today?'" said Poole.

Although their grandmother passed away in 2015, the boys' work in advocating for young caregivers has just begun. When the two boys enrolled at Longfellow Middle School, they received a 15 hour service hour requirement. That's when they began looking into getting service hours for caretaking. "I started thinking, my children have done 15 hours of service in a week," said Poole.

In January, the family launched an advocacy group called A Little Bit of Happy that is working for service hours and support services for children with caregiving responsibilities. The family hopes to contribute to the cause local school districts, starting in Virginia.

Images via the Poole Family