The Children’s Nest Board of Directors is seeking for more community support before looking to open the doors again to serve children and families in the area. Last week, the childcare center received an order from the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) close immediately due to the recent and unexpected resignation of its center director. The directors met on Monday to discuss the next steps. Being the only nonprofit, state-licensed center in the county, the 14 children enrolled now had families frantically searching for other arrangements to continue supporting working parents. Board Member, Sarah Robertson says this isn’t the first time the center faced uncertainty like this and more needs to be done to ensure that this will not happen again in the future.
The center has seen a higher staff turnover, financial struggles, loss of support due to changes in legislation from Iowa’s Area Education Agency (AEA) and currently has only three active members on the board. Robertson says many community members have reached out saying that the center is such a staple for Audubon, but without support, she says it is nearly impossible to continue operations.
While not the priority of the board at this point, Robertson says after getting the support needed, they will look at opening applications for a center director. She says there were individuals that reached out asking about the qualifications for the position, but hasn’t looked much into their backgrounds and just is honest with them about the requirements of the job.
Robertson wants to emphasize that the staff that has stuck with the center has been amazing, willing to put in long hours and step up to assist in any way they can. The round table will hopefully be held in the next few weeks to get more input and gain the community’s support before looking to open the doors again. Anyone with questions or looking to help is encouraged to contact Robertson at 515-681-6331
