We, the undersigned parents, childcare providers, workers, and community members, strongly oppose the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ decision to cap family home childcare capacity increase waivers at 16 children and force providers to reduce enrollment by June 30, 2026.

This decision will cut licensed childcare slots statewide during an already severe childcare crisis. This harm is not required by law, not required by building code, and not supported by safety data. It is the result of a policy choice by DCYF.

For years, DCYF granted capacity increase waivers allowing providers to safely operate above 16 children based on space, staffing, and local approval. These waivers were issued with no end date, and providers relied on them in good faith by hiring staff, expanding programs, and serving families who depend on consistent care. Washington law explicitly allows DCYF to waive capacity limits. The Legislature did not impose a 16-child cap. That number exists only in DCYF’s own updated rules and internal policy.

DCYF is now reversing course and forcing providers to discard children by June 30th 2026, despite no change in statute, no change in building or fire code, and no retroactive enforcement of building code. Building and fire codes regulate life safety, not numerical childcare capacity, and local jurisdictions continue to approve higher occupancies where safety standards are met.

The consequences of this decision are predictable and dangerous.

When licensed childcare slots are eliminated, children lose access to safe, regulated environments. For some children, childcare is where they receive reliable meals, stability, early learning, and protection through mandated reporters.

When childcare is cut, parents cannot work. When parents cannot work, families lose income. When income is lost, families face eviction, food insecurity, and crisis.

When licensed childcare disappears, families are pushed into unlicensed and unregulated care, where children are far more likely to be harmed.

This is the trickle-down effect of bad policy. One agency decision cascades into job loss, unsafe care, housing instability, and preventable harm to children.

Providers will also be forced to lay off staff. Programs cannot sustain teachers without children enrolled. This will shrink the childcare workforce and permanently damage the system families rely on.

This decision does not exist in a vacuum. At the same time DCYF is cutting licensed childcare capacity, the Governor’s proposed budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in childcare funding reductions that would result in tens of thousands of families losing access to care statewide. Taken together, these actions move Washington in the wrong direction. No one should be cutting childcare in a childcare crisis.

There has been no legal or safety justification for this sudden shift. Families and children should not pay the price for agency risk management or administrative convenience.

We call on state leaders to:

Preserve existing licensed childcare capacity statewide
Stop DCYF from enforcing a hard cap of 16 children
Honor previously granted waivers with no end date
Prevent the forced displacement of children and families by June 30, 2026
Hold DCYF accountable to legislative intent and real-world impacts

Do not shrink childcare in a childcare crisis.

Cutting childcare slots creates a trickle-down of harm that Washington’s children and families cannot afford.