Building a Place for Grace: Jenny Radler’s Mission to Help Special Needs Families
Episode 203 • 14th March 2025 • Total Michigan • Cliff Duvernois
00:00:00 00:31:45

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Never underestimate the power of a mother's love. We sit down with Jenny Dumont Radler, the founder of A Place for Grace, Michigan's only fully inclusive childcare, preschool, afterschool program, and teen center for children with special needs. Jenny shares her deeply personal journey of raising her daughter, Emma, who was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Through her struggles and triumphs, Jenny found her calling: creating a place where all children—regardless of ability—are welcomed, loved, and given the tools to thrive.

✅ How Jenny’s personal experience raising her daughter with special needs led to founding A Place for Grace.

✅ The challenges special needs children face in traditional daycare settings—and how inclusive childcare can make a difference.

✅ The incredible stories of resilience and transformation happening at A Place for Grace.

✅ The power of faith, forgiveness, and finding purpose through adversity.

✅ How you can support A Place for Grace and the children it serves.

Links:

🔗 Visit A Place for Grace: aplaceforgracechildcare.org

📍 Location: 4884 Gratiot Road, Suite 19, Saginaw, MI

📱 Follow A Place for Grace on Facebook

💖 Support the mission through the Saginaw Community Foundation

Subscribe to our Email Newsletter: https://totalmichigan.com/join/

Find us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/totalmichigan

Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@totalmichigan

Show Notes:

The Struggles Begin:

00:00 - Jenny’s Mission: Creating A Place for Grace for Emma & Others

02:15 - Emma’s Early Challenges: Surgeries, Strength & Survival

05:30 - Jenny Faces Every Mother’s Nightmare at Daycare

07:50 - The Moment That Changed Everything for Jenny & Emma

Against All Odds

09:45 - Jenny Searches for an Inclusive Childcare & Finds Nothing

12:30 - Emma Inspires Jenny to Build Michigan’s First Inclusive Childcare

15:10 - Building A Place for Grace: Passion vs. Real-World Obstacles

18:40 - Funding, Licensing & Community Skepticism—Can It Work?

22:15 - Betrayal: Jenny is Forced Out of Her Own Organization

25:50 - Starting Over: Jenny’s Relentless Fight for Inclusion

Hope, Triumph & A Brighter Future

27:30 - A Place for Grace Opens Its Doors: A Dream Becomes Reality

30:10 - A Foster Child’s Life is Transformed Through Jenny’s Mission

33:45 - Emma’s Growth & The Kids Who Found a Home at A Place for Grace

35:50 - The Future: Expanding A Place for Grace & How You Can Help

Transcripts

Speaker:

Jenny Dumont Radler: So her first

year of life with six surgeries

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that she had to go through.

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Yeah, that was tough.

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I think I got to be a little bit more

comfortable with thanking God and I

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believed in my heart that God chose

me to have Emma because of what I'm

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doing now for so many other kids.

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And I, I believe that I

was chosen to have her.

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Cliff Duvernois: Hello everyone.

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Welcome back to Total Michigan, where

we interview ordinary Michiganders

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doing some pretty extraordinary things.

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I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois.

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If you've listened to the show for any

length of time, you will know that anybody

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who works with children with special

needs automatically gets a free pass to

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the show because this is something that

is very near and dear to my heart, uh,

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having a brother who was special needs,

and I definitely understand what parents

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and what families go through when it

comes to the extra effort you have to go

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through to be able to take care of these

little angels that God has given us.

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Joining us today to talk about one such

organization that's doing wonderful things

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to help out parents, uh, with children

with special needs is Jenny Radler.

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She is the executive director, owner,

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Jenny Dumont Radler: Founder,

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Cliff Duvernois: Founder of A Place

for Grace located in Saginaw, Michigan.

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Jenny, how are you?

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I'm doing great.

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Awesome.

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So why don't you tell us

what is A Place for Grace?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: A Place for Grace

is Michigan's only totally inclusive

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childcare, preschool afterschool care,

and teen center for kids in Saginaw,

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Bay City, Midland, Tri City areas.

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We are fully inclusive, meaning we teach

kids with special needs together with

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those that are their non disabled peers.

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And we provide them an educational

service, emotional support, and

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we prepare them for success when

they go into the classrooms.

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And it's important because you can't teach

empathy to a child unless they are in it.

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our kids, their social

emotional development.

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because they're in the same

room with a special needs

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child and we don't label them.

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They've, they learn empathy and caring

and compassion in ways that no other,

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but no other place could teach them.

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Cliff Duvernois: That's beautiful.

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And there's a ton there for us to unpack.

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Yes.

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So, but I do want to ask you this question

because when we talk about children with

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special needs, that's a very broad stroke.

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Okay, because we're talking

about maybe kids that have down

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syndrome or maybe kids that are.

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That have autism or you know, other,

other kids, maybe just got some

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kind of developmental learning.

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So is your program, is it, I know

you say inclusive, so I'm going

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to assume the answer is yes, but.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: We take

all types of disabilities.

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So Down syndrome, ADHD, nonverbal,

autistic, anybody that's in a wheelchair

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or has any kind of physical disabilities.

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My daughter, Emma, is intellectually

and developmentally delayed.

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So we take emotionally

impaired hearing impaired.

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We don't turn anyone away.

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Cliff Duvernois: Let's

go back to the beginning.

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Let's talk about where are you from?

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Where did you grow up?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: I was

born in Whittier, California.

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Oh, okay.

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I'm a California girl.

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Yes.

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And I grew up in Paso Robles, California.

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Cliff Duvernois: Okay.

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Jenny Dumont Radler:

Beautiful winery, by the way.

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Absolutely beautiful winery.

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We get wine from them all the time.

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But I ended up going to Colorado for 10

before coming to Michigan in:

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Cliff Duvernois: So what

brought you to Michigan?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: Emma's dad

and I got married, and, uh, so

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that's what brought me here.

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Cliff Duvernois: Okay.

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Now, at some point in time, of course, A

Place for Grace didn't exist back then.

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You find out that you

are pregnant with Emma.

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Yeah.

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Talk to us a little bit about that story.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: So being pregnant

is I have a, also a 31 year old son.

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So I had been pregnant before.

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So I knew what to experience.

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And it was all very exciting.

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It was.

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combining our two families together.

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Until I was 20 weeks pregnant and

I had my ultrasound for us to find

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out if it was a girl or a boy and

make sure everybody is healthy.

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And the

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Cliff Duvernois: routine,

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Jenny Dumont Radler: part

of the routine stuff.

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The x ray tech was concerned because

her nose looked abnormal, abnormally

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large and say they sent us to

a second tier obstetrician, Dr.

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Wechter in Saginaw.

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And it was then he found

that she had a cleft.

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Cleft lip.

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They didn't know how bad

it was, but I had a choice.

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I could either because of the cleft

lip and because of the two vessel cord,

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the possibility of her having trisomy

13 were high and I could find out if

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she had it with an amniocentesis or

not do anything and just wait and see

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because if she did have trisomy 13,

then she would not live long past birth.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh, okay.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: I remember

that day my mother in law was with

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me at the time my husband must

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Cliff Duvernois: have been crushing.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: It was very hard.

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I went straight to my church because

I just didn't know what to do.

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I didn't know how to do.

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I want to find out if she has trisomy 13.

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I wasn't going to abort her.

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Even if she did, but then you have to go

through the rest of your pregnancy knowing

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that this child isn't going to live.

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Or do I not do anything and just

hope and pray that she's okay?

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Cliff Duvernois: Right.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: It was the most,

it was a, you would think that it would

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be an easy decision, but it was not.

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So I sought counsel from

my, my priest at the time.

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He talked to me about it.

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Of course, I'm crying.

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I can't stop crying.

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And he just finally looked at me

and he says, knowledge is power.

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And I said, okay.

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So I decided to do the amniocentesis

and that's when they found out her, it

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was a bilateral cleft lip and palate,

a midline bilateral cleft lip and

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palate, which mean it was her sinuses

were open all the way up to her brain.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh, so

literally it's like, is, are

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you saying there's like no bone?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: No, she

had the, they, she had no, no

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palate to the roof of her mouth.

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We had to use special bottles for

her to feed because she couldn't,

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So her first year of life with

six surgeries that she had to go

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through and yeah, that was tough.

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It's not, not easy handing your child over

to a surgeon when they're two months old.

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Cliff Duvernois: No, it's not.

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And did you, did you at every

point going through this, did you

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ever stop and like maybe ask God?

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All the time.

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When this was happening, or

what you, I, I blamed myself.

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Okay.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: And my journey and

my faith was a big part of getting past

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that because I was baptized in 2001.

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I had never been baptized before, and

so I converted to Catholicism, and I

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got to be baptized when I was in my 30s.

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And so I went through the entire span

of what a young student would go through

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when they're getting baptized and do their

confirmation and their first communion

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and, repentance and all that stuff.

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I was an adult, so I really

could grasp that concept.

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I'll never forget after it was probably

five or six years after Emma was

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born and I thought, Okay, what did

I do when I was pregnant with her?

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Did I use some cleaner that

I wasn't supposed to do?

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Did I drink something before

I found out I was pregnant?

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Did I get exposed to something?

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Did I injure myself?

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And you just cannot get

rid of that guilt feeling.

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Cliff Duvernois: Yeah,

it's hard to let it go.

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Yes.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: But then, it just,

it was one of those things when I finally

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decided that I was going to start A

Place for Grace, I forgave myself.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh, that's you.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: I forgave myself

so that I could carry on without that

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heavy burden for Emma and for other

kids, because it's a lot to carry.

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It's to think that you harmed this

child and that she's never going

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to have a normal life like you

would want your daughter to have.

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Cliff Duvernois: So let's, I'd

like to take a step back here

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because you mentioned before about

Turning Emma over to the surgeon

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when she was just two months old,

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Jenny Dumont Radler: two months old,

they had to put in a Latham appliance

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to try to widen her mouth a little bit

so that teeth could start growing in.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh, my goodness.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: Yeah.

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Cliff Duvernois: And then I

could just imagine from here.

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It was probably just surgery after surgery

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Jenny Dumont Radler: every two to three

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months.

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She first the latham appliance

and then they did the first lip

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closure because she had so, so

much of her of her lip was missing.

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They had to do it in two surgeries.

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So they did the first lip closure,

which was the interior one.

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And I know that sounds weird, but it

wasn't the exterior part of the lip.

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It was just the interior tissues.

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And she had to wear a bar that

was across her face that you know,

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would push her cheeks together.

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And she had to wear splints on her arms

so she couldn't pull at it for two weeks.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh my goodness.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: But you know what?

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She was the happiest little girl.

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You would, you would never know.

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I never stopped her.

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I mean, but it was stressful for sure.

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And that was a tough surgery.

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We had to go to U of M.

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They have a cranial facial

maxillofacial surgery in Ann

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Cliff Duvernois: Arbor.

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Yeah.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: U

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of M in Ann Arbor.

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And then three months later they

did the exterior of her lip.

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And that was really tough obviously.

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And then they had to do Take out some

teeth, because her tissue, teeth were

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coming in, inverted in her mouth.

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Cliff Duvernois: Right.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: And then they did the

palate, which that was four hour surgery.

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Wow.

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And she was just over a year old by then.

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And so they did the palate she

couldn't hear for her first

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three months of life either.

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So she had to have six sets of tubes.

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So we were involved with early on.

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from literally day one.

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And they came to the house and we

taught her sign language and because she

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couldn't talk until, for a long time.

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So she's, I mean, this, that girl,

you think anybody is resilient.

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That girl is so resilient

and she's so happy.

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Cliff Duvernois: I feel

so pathetic right now.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: I do too.

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I've, I'm a better person because of her

and knowing that she's, she's happy and

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thankfully she doesn't know any different

because that would break my heart.

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Cliff Duvernois: With regards to the

surgeries and I'm, I'm, I'm coming from

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a complete place of ignorance for this

when it comes to the surgeries, because

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you're talking before about, you know,

having to, where the special brace and,

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and put in, put the palate and stuff.

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And, but I'm also thinking too about the

fact that how much growing is going on.

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So is this something where it's just

every few years, she's going to have

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to have another surgery or is it, is

it something that, that grows with her?

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How does that, How does that work?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: She's

had a bone graft done.

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Because she didn't have

a bridge in her mouth,

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Cliff Duvernois: you

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Jenny Dumont Radler: know, would close.

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So she had a bone graft.

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They took bone from her hip.

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When she was I want to say she

was like nine years old, ten years

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old, and graft a bone up there.

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And then two years ago, she had to

have expanders put in to open up

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her mouth a little bit more so that

some of her teeth could come down.

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Because her mouth doesn't close.

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She has a severe underbite.

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So her mouth doesn't close all the way.

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So her face does grow and they monitor it.

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We go to a cleft palate

clinic at U of M every year.

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We just went actually in February and

they monitor how far her mouth grows.

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So like her chin can grow out,

but this part of her face won't.

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And so she

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Cliff Duvernois: that's right.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: Yeah.

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So it doesn't grow.

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If it doesn't grow right, they want, they

sometimes would want to do surgery on it.

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Which would entail breaking her jaw,

expanding it out, and I said, no.

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This girl's been through enough.

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She's beautiful the way she is.

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I don't want to change her face.

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The only thing they're left to do is,

later this year, they're going to do

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a little nasal work on her, because

her nose is really, really flat.

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She has a hard time with breathing

and mucus and stuff, so they're going

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to lift her nose up a little bit.

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Cliff Duvernois: Okay.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: but when Dr.

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Henning did her first lip surgery

here, he tucked in, he's, there's

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live tissue that's tucked into her

nose that they'll be able to use, so.

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Cliff Duvernois: Now, let me, because

you said this before, and it kind of

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caught my attention when you said,

she's beautiful just the way she is.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: She is.

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Cliff Duvernois: Was there ever a point

in time during this process that you

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actually said to yourself, you know what?

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God, thank you for this

beautiful gift you've given me.

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Yes.

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Jenny Dumont Radler:

several times, actually.

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Because after she was.

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Her pallet was closed and she got to

start eating food and then she started

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going to school and her first IEP.

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After that, I think I got to be a little

bit more comfortable with thanking God

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and I believed in my heart that God

chose me to have Emma because of what

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I'm doing now for so many other kids.

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And I, I believe that I

was chosen to have her.

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Cliff Duvernois: And with that we're going

to take a break to thank our sponsors and

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we're going to talk a lot more about what

you're doing for so many beautiful kids

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that are located in the area for audience.

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We'll be back after this quick break.

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We are talking with Jenny from

a A Place for Grace located

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in Saginaw from Michigan.

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And, uh, we will see you after the break.

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Hello, everyone.

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Welcome back to total Michigan, where

we interview ordinary Michiganders

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doing some pretty extraordinary things.

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I'm your host.

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Cliff DuVernois.

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Today, we are talking to Miss Jenny,

A Place for Grace, a beautiful

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organization that's doing wonderful

things for kids with special needs.

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And Jenny, before the break, we were

talking about, we were actually walking

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through, uh, your journey, uh, with

Emma and a lot of the, uh, trials that

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you had to go through the numerous

surgeries that you had to, uh, try to

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give her some semblance of, uh, A normal

life and what I want to do now is I

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want to just take a couple of minutes

here and explore how A Place for Grace

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came about because you've got Emma.

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She's clearly special needs.

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So how did that process

start on your journey?

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Jenny Dumont Radler: I have always been

a promoter and supporter of a daycare

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and sending a child to daycare because

the socialization is so important.

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But because of all of Emma's surgeries

when she was younger, we waited until

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she was 18 months old to go to a daycare.

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Okay.

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So we started her at St.

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Stephens, and they actually

were wonderful with her.

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She was young, so she was still growing.

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A lot of her disabilities did not

always show up until she started school.

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When she started school at four

in the ECDD program she You could,

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that's when all of her developmental

disabilities and cognitive impairments

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and stuff started coming to light,

realizing that she was not going to

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be learning on the same path as every

other child, but I was always working.

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I was working as a paralegal for 13 years.

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Cliff Duvernois: Somebody's

got to pay the bills.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: My husband

at the time was a teacher.

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She went to after school care,

and over the summer, she would

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go to a daycare over the summer.

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The daycare that she was at in, was

in Saginaw, and I got called, I think,

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four times in a week to come pick her

up because she was having a meltdown.

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And, I show up, and this is a very

vivid memory of mine, I show up and the

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caregiver is holding my daughter, Emma.

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And she's nine or eight holding her with

her legs wrapped around her like in a

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bear hug and Emma screaming her head off.

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh my goodness.

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Jenny Dumont Radler: And they said

they were doing this because Emma

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was going to hurt herself or she was

kicking and hitting other people.

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I was like, what?

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That's not my daughter.

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I mean, she's tiny.

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I immediately took her and got

her in the car and she was fine.

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I said, Emma, what happened?

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And she says, well, they

didn't want to play with me.

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And she couldn't understand

that because she wanted to play.

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And she was really into playing cats

and dogs at that time in her life.

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She loved to crawl around

and play cats and dogs.

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Her name was Black Ears when she

was a dog, that was her name.

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but when you're a certain age, when

you're five years old in the daycare

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system, you are considered school age.

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And school age kids have a ratio

of one caregiver for 18 kids.

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Mind you, you're having five year

olds all the way up to a 12 year old

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in the same room with one caregiver.

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Oh boy.

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So here you have this little five,

six year old girl who's trying

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to crawl around and play dogs.

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Kids are making fun of her.

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Nobody will play with her because,

she's not playing like everybody else.

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And so she just would have these

emotional meltdowns because

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:

nobody would do anything with her.

352

:

She needed to be in a classroom with

the younger kids because that was her.

353

:

That's where she was at.

354

:

That's where she was at.

355

:

So I remember leaving that day after

Emma was telling me that nobody would

356

:

play with her, leaving that day thinking,

there's got to be a better place.

357

:

There's got to be a daycare

for kids with special needs.

358

:

I mean, there are over 4, 000 kids with

special needs in Saginaw County alone.

359

:

I mean, you could look it up on the

IDEA website if it's still Active?

360

:

I don't know.

361

:

But there's at least 4, 000 kids

with an IEP or some sort of special

362

:

needs in Saginaw County at that time.

363

:

That was back in 2013.

364

:

Emma was eight and I

started calling around.

365

:

I'm like, where's there a

daycare for special needs kids?

366

:

And I didn't, I couldn't find one.

367

:

So I had our first board

meeting in my house.

368

:

my friend Linda and a couple

of other people that I knew,

369

:

I said, Hey, I have this idea.

370

:

I want to start a daycare

for kids with special needs.

371

:

my daughter's name is Emma Grace, and I

said, I want to call it A Place for Grace.

372

:

so we met in my living room, we ended

up, I, I found a friend of mine who was

373

:

a business consultant, and he knew how to

start companies, because I didn't know.

374

:

Cliff Duvernois: You're paralegal.

375

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: I was a paralegal,

I owned my own referral marketing

376

:

company, I did some things on my

I mean, I was working on my own.

377

:

Doing coaching and training.

378

:

So I hired this guy.

379

:

He started, we did a SWOT analysis.

380

:

So we would bring people in from

the community and we said, okay,

381

:

this is what we're thinking of.

382

:

What do you guys think?

383

:

And then, they get through

all of their ideas.

384

:

What are kind of, some

obstacles and things.

385

:

So we finally formulated a plan,

but then it came to a point like,

386

:

okay I'm ready to move forward.

387

:

We got to do something.

388

:

It's been six months.

389

:

It doesn't take this long.

390

:

To me, because I'm right.

391

:

It doesn't take that long.

392

:

And he's like, Oh, no, you're good.

393

:

You got a year or more.

394

:

I'm like, No, that's not

going to work for me.

395

:

So I found somebody he

went to the wayside.

396

:

I found somebody else.

397

:

And I was really excited about it.

398

:

And I thought she was going to be the

one because she talked all the talks.

399

:

But she then she infiltrated my board.

400

:

She had all of my friends, close friends

who knew Emma were board members.

401

:

She had them all sign.

402

:

Non disclosure agreements and kicked me

off the board and then I found out I got

403

:

wind from one of them told me that she

was dismantling the board because things

404

:

weren't going the way she wanted it.

405

:

Cliff Duvernois: So I was like, I'm

completely confused by this by the way.

406

:

Why did it was there any reason

407

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: why?

408

:

The only thing I can think of and what

somebody told me later was that, that

409

:

this person that we hired to, to be

the board president and because I was

410

:

still working, I wasn't planning on

working at the daycare, I wanted to

411

:

start it and then let the board run it.

412

:

I was told that the only reason

I could think of was that she was

413

:

trying to take it for herself.

414

:

I I got wind of it in May of 2014, that

she was going to dissolve the board.

415

:

So I went and started another LLC and

I found a location inside the First

416

:

United Methodist Church over on Gratiot.

417

:

And they were going to let

me use four rooms for free.

418

:

I, my husband told me at the time,

you have to decide if you're going

419

:

to continue with your own referral

marketing coaching or if you're

420

:

going to go and work at the daycare.

421

:

Cliff Duvernois: Yeah.

422

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: And I

remember sitting down with

423

:

Barbara Littles in Saginaw and

I said, I don't know what to do.

424

:

I really love what I'm doing

and coaching and training.

425

:

How can I just turn

away from this daycare?

426

:

And she just looked at me and she says,

well, what do you want your legacy to be?

427

:

Oh, I said, okay, I'm done.

428

:

I'm done.

429

:

So June 1st, I gave up my

franchise that I had and I went

430

:

full board into A Place for Grace.

431

:

I applied for our license and that was

June 1st, applied for our license, got it,

432

:

got everything ready to go at the daycare.

433

:

Cause when you apply for a license to

get accepted, you literally like have to

434

:

be like, you're opening up the next day.

435

:

Cliff Duvernois: Yeah,

436

:

Jenny Dumont Radler:

everything has to be in place.

437

:

I took it upon myself to to make myself

meet with my licensing consultant.

438

:

I got my license approved end of July.

439

:

Cliff Duvernois: And in addition to all

this too, I can imagine that there's

440

:

probably state certifications because

you're going to have kids in there.

441

:

It's just

442

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: a state

licensing through LARA.

443

:

Um, you just have all of these

requirements that you have to, making

444

:

sure that the, the safety is there, all

of the fire insurance, and we had to

445

:

have, the entire church had to be approved

because the kids could run in the hallway.

446

:

So, and we had to put the bulletin boards

in this church, and this church is big.

447

:

Cliff Duvernois: Right.

448

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: Bulletin boards

in this church were not fire protected.

449

:

So we had to go and paint every

single bulletin board with a

450

:

fire protectant to get approved.

451

:

Cliff Duvernois: Sweet

452

:

Moses.

453

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: But it was worth it.

454

:

We were there for, six years, seven years.

455

:

And

456

:

Cliff Duvernois: then

you outgrew that space.

457

:

Jenny Dumont Radler:

Well, they evicted us.

458

:

Cliff Duvernois: Okay, so you had

to go find another place, someplace

459

:

where they won't evict you.

460

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: Right.

461

:

I, uh, found a space inside of the Gratiot

Place Plaza over off Gratiot and Center.

462

:

And it was the former

CrossFit whip gym down there.

463

:

And so I Leased that space and we had to

lay all the flooring we did because it

464

:

was just concrete, just big concrete room.

465

:

And so now that's where

we're at right now.

466

:

But in November of 2022, I bought a

building across the street from us.

467

:

I'm sorry.

468

:

Cliff Duvernois: You're okay.

469

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: I bought the

building across the street from us,

470

:

the old Ferguson plumbing building,

renovated the front part of that.

471

:

So we are waiting to move into there.

472

:

it's an 18, 000 square foot building.

473

:

So our plan is to really expand

our services and offerings.

474

:

When we, as, as we can, cause

it's obviously very costly to do

475

:

any kind of construction, but we

do have 3, 500 square feet that's

476

:

already remodeled waiting to go.

477

:

And move all of our infants and toddlers

and preschoolers over there and expand.

478

:

Cliff Duvernois: That is just beautiful.

479

:

And I want to circle back on something

that, you know, that you mentioned before.

480

:

And that is, it's not just daycare.

481

:

That's babysitting.

482

:

You have people coming in there to

help to teach the kids, you know, like

483

:

how to, I mean, this, this to me is

above and beyond just a simple daycare.

484

:

Where did this idea, come from to

start offering all of these additional

485

:

things like, Hey, if we've got

your kids, let's work with them.

486

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: Well, because

all of these kids that we care for,

487

:

I think of as my own and what, would

I want my daughter to be exposed to

488

:

Cliff Duvernois: all beautiful?

489

:

Jenny Dumont Radler:

What would I want Emma?

490

:

How do I want her to be treated?

491

:

And that's how I want all

these kids to be treated.

492

:

So What we do is I bring in people from

the community, like I would bring in

493

:

a BCBA and they trained us how to do,

board certified behavioral, analyst.

494

:

So they're the ones that run operate

and run ABA centers, applied behavioral

495

:

analysis centers for kids with

autism or any kind of behavior that

496

:

they need a behavior modification.

497

:

So you mentioned it

before, like if a child is.

498

:

Maybe seven years old and they haven't yet

learned how to talk or feed themselves.

499

:

ABA takes those small goals and comes

up with a plan to achieve that one goal.

500

:

And, it could be anything.

501

:

It could, it could be, just taking a

square peg and putting it in the square

502

:

hole and if they can do that five times,

then they're going to master that.

503

:

And then you can scaffold

it from there and you can

504

:

continue to build their success.

505

:

To me, that was what was important.

506

:

And as a parent of a special needs

mom, I know the challenges, is.

507

:

That you're going through with work,

the medical your own relationships.

508

:

And that's so stressful and how to keep.

509

:

Such a positive attitude

for these children.

510

:

I wanted to create a space that they

were cared for the way they should be.

511

:

Instead of, you come to my

space and you adapt to what I'm

512

:

doing, it's we adapt to you.

513

:

And so it, we use the community, had

a lot of people come in and train us.

514

:

I went to, back to school again.

515

:

And I got my CDA, which is

Child Development Accreditation.

516

:

All of my staff is highly educated

and we have good retention and we're a

517

:

team, we're there for the same goal for

everyone to make these children feel

518

:

loved and accepted and cared for the way

that I would want my daughter cared for.

519

:

And so the people that I have working

for me have the biggest hearts.

520

:

It's a lot of work because you, if you

have a room full of 13 preschoolers,

521

:

which is two and a half to five.

522

:

And four of them have some sort of special

needs, non verbal ADHD, any physical

523

:

disabilities, any, anything, it's a lot.

524

:

Cliff Duvernois: Right.

525

:

Let me ask you this question here, because

it sounds like what you're doing over

526

:

there is just absolutely incredible.

527

:

I think so.

528

:

And the question that I have for you

there some, Is there a story, maybe of

529

:

somebody that you were able to reach,

maybe some parents were just completely

530

:

overjoyed because you could offer

them an option that nobody else could?

531

:

Is there, is there any stories

like that to stand out to you?

532

:

Jenny Dumont Radler:

There's lots of stories.

533

:

I opened, my first day

was in September of:

534

:

It was the day after school started.

535

:

We take kids that are older than 13.

536

:

So, licensing in Michigan

stops at the age of 12.

537

:

Once you turn 13, there's no

license requirements for watching

538

:

kids, because they expect, I think,

a 13 year old would stay home.

539

:

Obviously, my daughter was

nine and I wasn't going to

540

:

kick her out when she was 13.

541

:

So we took kids that are older than 13.

542

:

We had a lady, at the time she

started with me, she was 26.

543

:

She was, wheelchair, not bound,

but she used a wheelchair.

544

:

She could walk, but she was cognitively

probably like a 11 month old.

545

:

And we had to do everything for her,

but we found out some of the things that

546

:

she liked and she would dance and she

would get up and walk around and dance.

547

:

We take her on field trips, we, and

she would sit there and, she couldn't

548

:

talk, but you could tell she was

involved in, in, in what we were doing.

549

:

And so.

550

:

Right.

551

:

We would just have our, these older

people with our school agers, and the

552

:

school agers would help with them.

553

:

Ashley is, now 30, what is she,

35 now, and we've taken care

554

:

of her for the last 11 years.

555

:

that's just a special place in

my heart for her, but we have, a

556

:

little boy that was six years old.

557

:

He has Down syndrome.

558

:

He ended up going to homecoming

and then prom with my daughter.

559

:

So, and, uh, oh, we just, there's just.

560

:

There's so many stories, but the one most

recently was, is a story of a foster kid.

561

:

Because we took a lot of foster

kids, because a lot of foster kids

562

:

are being taken away from parents,

typically because they have some sort

563

:

of disability and they can't handle it.

564

:

So, this couple was adopting this

foster child from another country.

565

:

Oh, okay.

566

:

And he was autistic.

567

:

And so he started with us when he

was three and totally nonverbal,

568

:

severely autistic, would not be

able to sit down for a minute, would

569

:

throw things, dumped everything,

hitting, screaming, I mean, just.

570

:

Just, you name it, it was

just, it was really intense.

571

:

We had to, I had to bring in

a one on one with him, and I

572

:

will do that in a heartbeat.

573

:

Most places won't, but if I need

to, I will bring a one on one

574

:

to work with a child so that

they can show some successes.

575

:

Well, slowly but surely, we

started learning about him.

576

:

He likes to play games, he likes to

listen to music, and we would just

577

:

work with him and work with him and

work with him, and now he comes in

578

:

and he, he went to Disney World.

579

:

Last week with his parents and did he used

to be a runner not a runner anymore now

580

:

He does he did start school also and he

can talk And have full sentences with you.

581

:

And It's an amazing story And

I mean I have so many of them.

582

:

There's just so many.

583

:

Well, how much time we got?

584

:

I know I could go through

all of these kids.

585

:

I mean, The kids that we've had and the

experiences I've, I've had with children.

586

:

Some of them got physical.

587

:

But I'm always there and

I'm their safe place.

588

:

And we work through it, you know, You just

work through it as love first compassion.

589

:

Yeah.

590

:

Yeah.

591

:

Yeah.

592

:

And just love that child first,

first and foremost, just love them.

593

:

Cliff Duvernois: Jenny, if somebody

is listening to this and they want to

594

:

reach out, they wanna maybe find you

online, stop by A Place for Grace.

595

:

How can, how can they do that?

596

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: Well, we're located

at 4 8 8 4 Gratiot Road, suite 19.

597

:

just on the corner of Gratiot and Center.

598

:

We have a website, A Place

for Grace childcare.org.

599

:

and of course we have a Facebook

page, a social media page that

600

:

probably needs to be updated.

601

:

But, you know, and we are, we do

work with the Saginaw Community

602

:

Foundation to accept donations.

603

:

Because that does help with our

operations, because we do, we

604

:

have a lower ratio of caregivers

to kids than any other daycare.

605

:

and it's based on age.

606

:

So, like I told you, the school agers

from 5 to 12 is a 1 to 18 ratio.

607

:

Five year old, or excuse me, four

year olds is a one to ten ratio.

608

:

two and a half year olds is

one to eight ratio, and infants

609

:

and toddlers are one to four.

610

:

Anybody younger than two and a half.

611

:

We typically have a one to four ratio

in both our preschool and school age

612

:

room because we're interacting with

each of these kids, on the, on their

613

:

level, on the ground and working with

them, teaching them how to be friends to

614

:

each other and accepting of each other.

615

:

Any help is always greatly appreciated.

616

:

Certainly.

617

:

Cliff Duvernois: Jenny, thank you so much

for taking time to chat with us today.

618

:

Really do appreciate it.

619

:

Jenny Dumont Radler: Thank you very much.

620

:

Cliff Duvernois: And for audience, you

can always roll on over to total michigan.

621

:

com and click on Jenny's interview,

uh, and get the links and the address

622

:

that she was just talking about there.

623

:

We'll see you next time when we

talk to another Michigander doing

624

:

some pretty extraordinary things.

625

:

We'll see you then.

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