Parents and former staff reveal more incidents after First Steps childcare centre hands toddler to wrong grandpa

Parents and former staff have come forward claiming there were repeated incidents at a childcare centre in the lead-up to this month’s dramatic mix-up where a little boy was given to the wrong grandparent.

The one-year-old boy was mistakenly handed to the wrong adult at First Steps Learning Academy in Bangor, in Sydney’s south.

The mistake wasn’t discovered until the boy’s mother arrived later that day and was told her son was missing.

The childcare company, which runs 11 centres across Sydney, remains under investigation for that blunder as well as a number of incidents in at least three other of its venues.

But former parents and staff say the issues with the childcare company come as “no surprise”.

‘Stop crying, you’re not a baby’

“When I saw the news … I sort of knew in my head straight away who it was, and obviously that was confirmed,” said Sydney mother Mary, who asked to use a pseudonym to maintain anonymity.

Mary pulled both her children out of the Bangor centre in 2024 after what she described as “a lot of” incidents.

When her kids were there from 2022 to 2024, an educator allegedly threw blankets over a child’s face to force them to sleep.

In another case reported from August last year, a young boy was reportedly dragged several metres by the wrist, leaving him with injuries.

Mary also recalled hearing about a child who was left unattended for up to seven minutes and ended up being hit by two other children.

The mother said the constant staff turnover, chronic understaffing and worsening communication with parents convinced her to withdraw her children.

But what shocked Mary most was a revelation she learnt earlier this month, just three days after the pick-up controversy.

A former educator told Mary about an alleged incident involving her own son in 2023.

Mary’s then-two-year-old son, who she said never liked daycare, was once crying in distress when an educator tried to comfort him.

But the former staffer alleged another childcare employee snatched the little boy away and snapped: “Stop crying, you’re not a baby.”

“She told the other educator to stop mollycoddling him, saying ‘they’re not babies and they don’t need cuddles’ — which is absolutely horrific as a parent to hear,” the mother told 7NEWS.com.au.

Mary described the allegations as “absolutely disgraceful”.

“I wasn’t gonna say anything. I just thought I’d support the other mums, but I feel like we all sort of need to jump on board now and tell the story, so that these things don’t happen to other children, and other families don’t have to go through this,” she said.

Former educator speaks out

Annabelle Murray, a 25-year-old childcare educator, worked at First Steps Learning Academy in Bangor in 2022, but quit after just 12 weeks.

“This company needs to be shut down. I cannot believe that they’ve still got a licence,” Murray told 7NEWS.com.au.

She described children being left to watch TV while eating biscuits — something she said is “not encouraged” in childcare settings.

Concerns about the First Steps group extend beyond Bangor.

At its Liverpool centre last month, a three-year-old girl managed to wander into the middle of a busy road after a maintenance worker left a gate open.

Murray said parents had become so alarmed that they set up a group chat to share their concerns.

“Trisha [the owner] has come out so many times saying, ‘This is a one-off incident, this is a one-off incident’ — but how many one-offs can you have?” Murray said.

Murray said she was not surprised it was First Steps embroiled in the controversy.

“I was disgusted, I was so angry, but I wasn’t surprised. When I heard it was First Steps, I was just like: yeah of course, of course they did,” she said.

Murray said she left First Steps after her request to be put on lighter duties due to a fractured vertebrae was not actioned.

“I put my resignation in straight away,” she said.

Cash-focused, care compromised

A Google review from a parent a year ago echoed these concerns.

“Since being taken over by First Steps Learning Academy the level of care has significantly declined,” wrote Nicole Smith.

“The new owner took over and made no effort to introduce herself to parents. The communication ceased and it wasn’t until I approached the owner that I found out my details were not in the system correctly and I was not receiving correspondence from the centre,” Smith said.

She added that the only communication parents received came from accounts requesting payment.

Smith also claimed the centre relied heavily on casual staff, which made children “naturally reluctant to enter a room full of strangers”.

Provider and government response

The approved provider of First Steps’ 11 Sydney centres Trisha Hastie told 7NEWS.com.au that four of the incidents did occur: the case involving blankets being thrown over a child, the boy who was dragged by the wrist, the girl who wandered onto the street, and a child left unattended who was then hit by other children.

“Whenever a report is made, it is taken extremely seriously by our management team and the Department of Education,” she said.

She said the first two incidents — the child having blankets thrown over them and the boy being dragged by his wrist — were “investigated thoroughly” by the Department of Education, and “no further action was required”.

The third incident — involving the girl who wandered onto the street due to an open gate — is still under investigation.

The fourth — where the child was hurt by other children — was also investigated and is now closed, with the educator involved immediately stood down and terminated.

As for the alleged 2023 incident with Mary’s son, Hastie said the centre had “no knowledge of this at all”.

“We would like to again sincerely apologise to the families directly involved in the deeply upsetting incident at Bangor and to our broader community for the stress it has caused,” she said.

The NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority confirmed the first two incidents were investigated, and the educator involved was issued a compliance action.

A spokesperson said the department is implementing reforms to improve safety and quality in the sector, and crack down on poorly performing providers.

“The NSW Government is investing $55 million on top of the regulatory authority’s existing budget to boost frontline staff, increase the almost 9,000 visits completed last year, and fund CCTV and technology to protect children,” the spokesperson said.

“This builds on proposed reforms including creating a new standalone regulator, imposing higher fines for breaches and greater transparency for families on the safety record of providers.

“With the reforms the regulator will be able to take stronger action, sooner to lift quality and remove poor performing services.”