Caroline’s Cart-For Families With Special Needs Children

Here at Tyrone Law Firm, we do everything we can to help families who have children with special needs.  In fact we have dedicated members of our staff who have had to navigate a path for their own children. If you are a parent with a child with Cerebral Palsy or hypoxic brain injury, we hope these posts will bring you new resources for you, your child, and your family:

Inclusion is at times difficult for parents and the families of children with brain injuries and or cerebral palsy, but is very important.  If your child is wheelchair bound, you may have a hard time with pushing a wheelchair and a shopping cart and tend to find a sitter for grocery store trips. However, a few stores have started carrying “Caroline’s Carts” to help families in this situation.

Caroline’s Cart is a shopping cart created to help families of special needs children and adults. Not only does the Caroline’s Cart help with the stress of pushing a wheelchair and regular shopping cart, but if your child is a wanderer like a lot of children with TBI’s or Cerebral Palsy, this cart has straps and helps contain them so they do not get lost.

Drew Ann Long, the mother of Caroline Long, is the inventor of Caroline’s Carts. She came to the realization that her special needs daughter would eventually be too big for a traditional shopping cart, but wanted to continue to include her in grocery store trips. She formed her own business, got licensing and designed the cart herself. In May of 2013, Ms. Longs dream became reality.  Ms. Long wanted this cart available to retailers, which would allow special needs children to be mainstream in the general population, with their families. As of September 2014, Caroline’s Carts started shipping to grocery stores across the country.

Caroline’s Cart is now available in several stores in Georgia, such as Target and Publix. They are providing an easier way for families to shop together. Often, children with special needs miss out on picking their favorite food items, as stores are not easily accessible. When speaking to the store manager at the Target in Athens, Claire Guest, she stated that “it is up to individual stores to provide Caroline’s Carts and are typically ordered after interest is shown by customers.” Ms. Guest said that “without hesitation”, she started researching Caroline’s Cart and wanted to bring it to her store as a convenience to her customers.

More information about Caroline’s Carts can be found online at http://www.carolinescart.com.  If you would like to know more about Caroline’s Cart, or other resources for your family, or know someone else that needs help with resources, please do not hesitate to contact the Tyrone Law Firm.