Instead, she places the children on a waiting list. The reason?
Braidwood said she cannot find enough staff to work at Learn and Grow in Fowlerville.
"I have a waitlist that’s a dozen deep," she said. "I have parents going back to work and I don’t have availability because I don’t have enough staff."
During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Braidwood was restricted to accepting only children of essential personnel, so she closed for two months last year before reopening in June 2020.
"When we were able to open up in June of last year I only had a fraction of my staff willing to return back to work," she said. "...That’s my biggest issue. My staff was cut in half due to the pandemic."