Authorities in Sydney have launched an investigation after a grandfather mistakenly took home the wrong child from a daycare centre.
Gatekeepers News reports that the incident occurred on Monday at First Steps Learning Academy in Bangor, a southern suburb of Sydney. The man had arrived to collect his grandchild but instead took another child who had been asleep in a dark room.
The error only came to light when the child’s mother arrived to pick up her one-year-old and discovered they were missing.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” the mother, who asked not to be named, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“They couldn’t tell me [the man’s] name, they couldn’t tell me who he was, they couldn’t tell me who he was meant to pick up. They couldn’t tell me what he looked like, apart from that he was wearing shorts and he was an older gentleman.”
Although safety protocols normally restrict pickups to recognised parents, guardians, or carers, the mother stressed that the man was not at fault.
“We are not angry with him. We are not upset at him — we blame the daycare,” she said.
The man’s wife said her husband was “devastated” by the mistake.
“When he realised, he raced that child back so fast,” she said, adding that he had “owned the mistake.”
First Steps confirmed that the staff member involved had been stood down.
“We sincerely apologise to the families directly involved in this deeply upsetting and isolated incident,” said director Trisha Hastie.
She added that while such an error had never occurred before at the centre, procedures had since been strengthened “to ensure this never happens again.”
The New South Wales Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority described the mix-up as a “deeply concerning and serious incident” and confirmed that an investigation is ongoing.
The case comes amid heightened scrutiny of childcare safety in Australia. Just last month, new legislative measures were introduced to improve standards across the sector.
