WYOMING, Mich. — When parents in the Wyoming area reached out to me about the sudden closure of Connections Child Development Center, I knew I had to get answers.
What I found was a story of a staffing crisis that left working families in a desperate scramble — and a daycare director determined to rebuild.
WATCH: Wyoming child care center suddenly closes
"They're wonderful, bright, intelligent little girls, fun, rambunctious, lot of energy, lot of lot of energy," said Lisa Engstrom, a hard-working mother of two daughters, Mila and Isabell, who both attend Connections.
With Lisa and her husband both working full time jobs, Connections Child Development Center had been a lifeline for the family.
"The daycare was a godsend. It was one of the cheaper daycares in the area, and it also has a bus too and from the school, because I have to be to work before school starts, so it was like the best decision that we could make as a family," Engstrom said.
That sense of security came to an abrupt end earlier this month when parents received a message giving them just 33 minutes to pick up their children.
"At 11:27am, they sent out an alert saying, You need to pick up your children by noon," Engstrom said.
Thankfully the Engstroms daughters are old enough to be in school, so they were not there at the time. But this affected many other families, with Connections taking care of over 90 kids throughout the year.
The center temporarily closed after at least 15 staff members quit. Dr. Andrea Blue, the newest program administrator at Connections, explained what happened.
"I had no idea that people would just not show up because they were supposed to come back. So that did not happen. I was supposed to even receive the training that I was supposed to but I didn't," Blue said.
Blue started on Feburary 9th, with many of the walkouts happening the next day.
"It really put the families at harm, and it really put the center in a space where we had no choice but to shut down," Blue said.
Blue said day cares are required to maintain a certain ratio of staff to children in order to keep their licensing — a threshold Connections could no longer meet, with some days having over 90 kids come through the center.
Wanting to ensure the best care possible for the children the center cares for.
She made the difficult decision to temporarily close.
"So when you think about infants, pre toddlers, all of them in these different rooms, and you just maybe have one person or something like that. It's just it wasn't enough," Blue said. "I don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize our babies, first of all, and then our license that we work so hard to keep as well."
For the Engstrom family, the fallout was immediate and exhausting. With Lisa switching to third shift at her job. To better split time taking care of the kids with her husband.
"I lost sleep, I lost a week's worth of work trying to figure out what we were going to do for daycare," Engstrom said."And with my family, we don't have that village, so we didn't have any alternate options for other, you know, babysitters or anything like that." Engstrom said.
Engstrom said she hopes the center can reopen, but affordability is a critical factor.
"I had previously researched all the daycares in the area, and they are way above what we can afford as a family, and they are still well above what we can afford as a family," Engstrom said.
I asked Blue directly about parent's concerns over potential price increases.
"Child care is not free, but at the same time, we want to make sure that we are choosing a price that is beneficial to our families," Blue said."We understand that childcare is necessary, but we want our families to feel comfortable as well. But I will come, I will tell you this, we're not raising the prices no we are not."
For Engstrom, the hardest part of the closure has been the toll it has taken on her family's time together.
"I've done nothing but cry, and I miss seeing them and spending time with them. We don't get to do family dinners. I get to kiss my husband as he's pulling out of the driveway to go to work. So, it's been really rough," Engstrom said.
Blue said the center has been attending networking events to recruit new staff members in preparation for what she calls a "rebirth" of Connections Child Development Center.
The center will host a relaunch and open house on Saturday, March 21st from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. wanting to reopen with a fresh vision, renewed energy, and a continued commitment to nurturing infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school- age children.
The goal is to have the center fully reopened by March 23rd, however if they don't have the adequate staffing, the reopening will be delayed, said Blue.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
