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You won't have spaces sitting empty so you can't charge her any holding fees, but if it were me I would get her to pay the deposit and sign the contract around July to get a firm commitment. Because that would give you time to advertise and fill the Sept. spaces if she backs out.
The sad part is that I have had 3 other inquires for September in the last few days and now I am telling them I am tentatively full. It hurts sending back that reply when they could be great families/children too.
I think the part that makes me most nervous is just that it is one family taking up 2 full time spots. I have always avoided that and if it doesn't work out then I am in trouble. I have held spots 6+_ months before for single children and had it work out and I was not too worried if it didn't because it was one spot but two just raises the stakes.
And then the family who wants the 2 spots showed up 2 hours late yesterday without a call or email or anything. It made me wonder how things would be full time with two of theirs
I wouldn't turn people away .... Interview them .... Maybe they are a good match ..... Just let the families that you interview know that you haven't finished interviewing yet and you will let them know.
I keep interview until I have a signed contract and deposit in my hand - until that occurs she has not committed to it and anything can happen!
I have had lots of siblings in care over the years and while it does come with that financial risk of two spots opening if something goes wrong for me all the older ones went off to school and other before and after care and wee sibling stayed here so it was only 1 spot at a time typically opening only 1 client this fall where I had both kids head off full time to school cause 1 was in grade 1 and younger was full day every day JK ... but that was once out of the 5 sets of siblings I have had?
If I were you I would advertise in the mean time and if you get a fulltime opportunity with another family? take it! i have experienced holding spots for mothers on mat leave that intended to bring both kids back to me and they either made other arrangements to save money or tried to drop their hours back to save them money and I ended up losing them as clients or losing money due to my kindness. IF you find tqo families to fill the spots you will be better off anyway. Like so many of thes women have told me in the past....having a family of two children is a liability anyway, if they leave..you loose two spots.
Have you told your current parent that you are starting to interview for September spaces and if she wants to reserve them she needs to sign contracts and pay the deposit. If she does that then ok. IF she doesn't then go ahead and interview and take whoever signs first.
Sometimes I consider how old the oldest child will be in the sense of if the child will only be with me for one more year when mat leave is over and I am not in the school district for the child then the chances of the mom not moving both kids is slim. Getting into school based care is very difficult here with long waiting lists so chances are she will be looking for a new caregiver in her area and for many they will only take a school age child if they come with a younger sibling that gives more of an income.
This might actually be the time to speak with the parent about how practical it is for them to return to care - forget how old the child is.