‘Why are they doing this?’: Daycare owner fights for her kids after new state regulations

EDMONDS, Wash. — Torrie Amaratunge bought her Edmonds home intending to turn it into an in-home day care.

Five years ago, she opened Little Kings and Queens Child Care.

Amaratunge spent countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars converting the place, inside and out, but now that may not be enough.

“All of this headache for nothing?” Amaratunge said. “No. You guys are not about to rip the carpet out from underneath me.”

During the pandemic, state lawmakers allowed in-home daycares to apply for a waiver so they could accept more children. 

But that put 63 providers out of compliance with state building codes, including Amaratunge.

She is technically allowed to serve 23 children, but now that the pandemic is over, the number is being reduced to 16 to comply with those state codes.

That means Amaratunge would have to part ways with the families she has grown so close to by the end of June.

“I don’t want to have to pick and choose which families to get rid of,” Amaratunge said. “That’s not nice. Kids need their friends, their trusted caregivers and teachers. Parents need to work.”

The State Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) said daycares like Amaratunge’s can stay at their current capacity until June 30, 2026, but only if they plan to move the facility out of their homes and into a larger commercial space to comply with building codes.

Amaratunge said that negates all of the work and expense she has poured into her in-home day care.

“I built my whole business on this,” Amaratunge said. “That’s not cool.”

If she keeps the business at her house, Amaratunge said she will be forced to say goodbye to up to seven families. That is something she simply can’t fathom.

“I would rather close my program than pick and choose families to kick out,” Amaratunge said. “I’m not doing it.”

A DCYF spokesperson told KING 5 the agency is “looking at ways to support impacted providers during this transition and limit the impact to families.”

Amaratunge said she does not understand why the state would be cutting child care capacity when spots are in high demand.

She simply wants to keep treating her little kings and queens like royalty.

“Why are they doing this?” Amaratunge said. “It’s so frustrating. I just don’t know. I wish they would just leave us alone.”