IT’S every parent’s worst nightmare.
Arriving at nursery to collect your child only to discover that someone else has already collected them and for one mum this became her terrifying reality.
A mum has told of her horror after her child was collected by the wrong man at nursery[/caption]
The distressed mum is blaming her toddler’s childcare centre for “losing him” for two hours after another child’s grandfather was mistakenly allowed to take home the wrong child.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her children, said she was panicked when she went to pick up her son, who had just turned one, from Bangor’s First Steps Learning Academy, and realised he wasn’t there, she told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Worried staff at the centre had to review CCTV footage and contact other parents to confirm they had the right child.
It was then that they discovered a grandfather had come to collect his grandchild, but had been accidentally given the wrong child and hadn’t realised.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” the mum, from Syndey, said about learning her son had left the premises with an unknown man.
“They couldn’t tell me his 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.”
She said she doesn’t blame the grandfather for the mix-up, she blames the daycare.
“We don’t blame him. We are not angry with him. We are not upset at him – we blame the daycare,” she said.
The distraught wife of the grandfather said he arrived when the children were sleeping and the room was dark.
“He was asleep, and he’d got him out of the car,” she said.
“He was struggling with the car seat. He didn’t really notice much difference because he doesn’t do the car seat that often, so his biggest thing was trying to (work out) the seat.
“When he got him home, he just snuggled him and went to sleep, and he didn’t realise.
“He has the same hair, and he had the dummy in his mouth, and (my husband) said, ‘He’s not well. He’s not himself’.”
The wife added that the couple cared for their own grandson on Sunday, and he was teething and unwell that day.
The couple are said to be “distraught” over the incident.
Local authorities said it would conduct a “thorough investigation” into the “deeply concerning and serious incident”.
First Steps Learning Academy’s Trisha Hastie told news.com.au: “We sincerely apologise to the families directly involved in this deeply upsetting and isolated incident, and to the broader First Steps community for the distress it has caused. The safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is our highest priority.
“While we have always maintained strict protocols for drop-off and pick-up, in this case those processes were not followed correctly. The educator involved has been stood down.
“We have acted immediately to strengthen our procedures and ensure this never happens again.”
The centre, which Ms Hastie claimed has never experienced a similar incident, has since amended its drop-off and pick-up procedures to “ensure it never happens again”.
Now, “unfamiliar individuals” will be met at the door, families must sign children in and out, and a “Responsible Person” will conduct a second verification check before any child leaves.
In addition to this, each child will have a confidential verification card containing their photo, parents’ photos, and authorised contacts.
This story was originally published on News.com.au and has been republished here with permission.