Man 'Devastated' After Picking Up Wrong Kid From Day Care

A Sydney day care is under investigation after a grandfather left with the wrong child. The mix-up happened at First Steps Learning Academy in the suburb of Bangor, where the man, picking up his grandchild, was handed a different sleeping toddler, per the Guardian. The error went unnoticed until the child's mother arrived, only to find her son missing. The mom described her shock to the Sydney Morning Herald but emphasized she holds the day care responsible, not the grandfather.

Meanwhile, the grandfather's wife said he was "devastated" and returned the boy quickly after realizing his mistake. She noted he'd walked in while the kids were napping, and the lights in the room had been dimmed, per the Guardian. "This has never happened before at Bangor, or at any of our other centers," First Steps' Trisha Hastie tells the ABC, offering her apologies.

New South Wales' Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority is now conducting a thorough review of the incident, calling it "deeply concerning." One educator has been suspended, and regulators say they'll be looking into the center's compliance history. Police were notified, but local authorities report no active investigation.