AIBU to raise concerns after nursery brought out the wrong baby?

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Just need a bit of advice as unsure what to think/do. My 12 month old has recently started at nursery. They seem great and are very responsive, great with communication and we were very impressed when we went to visit, hence why we chose it. He seems to be settling okay (as okay as can be!) My only issue is when we went to collect him yesterday, they brought us the wrong child! We ring the doorbell and it's collection/drop off only. We cannot enter the building. Staff brought out another baby and went to hand her over. We obviously said 'ummm that's not our baby's Granted she looked appalled & went to get our son but it's just made me panic; that they'll hand over children to essentially anyone. I appreciate it's September and they've just had an influx of new children and they still need to learn parents/caregivers but surely there's a better process for example asking 'who are you here to collect' etc rather than just bringing the child out. Perhaps a password system until parents are known? I guess my question is would you report this to the nursery manager? I would absolutely hate for someone to lose their job over this though or be reprimanded as I get we're all only human. Any advice on what to do?

100% report to nursery manager at the very least

I think the nursery needs to review pick-up process and I would mention lightly to the manager. Personally, I’m not keen on nurseries that don’t allow parents on site - you should be able to see where your baby is spending their day.

Absolutely report it.

From your post you have a boy and they gave you a girl? How much more wrong can they get this?

I don't think you're overblowing this safeguarding issue - it's bad. I would tell management and ask what they're going to change so it can't happen again; if the answer isn't good enough you can raise with Ofsted.

Definitely report to Manager and ofsted also insist the baby girls parents are told

Definitely let the manager know. It doesn't have to be an angry complaint. It can just be a "No harm was done but I thought you'd want to know so something can be put in place to prevent it happening again with a worse outcome"

If they can't recognise all of the parents at this point, they need something like a password system. If they can't recognise all of the babies, that's more concerning. I'd definitely mention it.

Wasn't there a grandad who picked up the wrong girl (not baby girl) a few years ago? You'd think he'd have recognised her, but I suppose he could have had serious eyesight/face recognition issues.
Just saying it's possible someone might have just walked off with the baby.

Yes I would mention it. Quite normal for parents to not be allowed in when collecting. Safer and less disruptive for the little ones.

Did they not ask you who you were collecting? I’m assuming they’ve mistaken you for the little girl’s parents?

You could report it without naming the staff member and saying you don't want anyone to lose their job but you do want the procedures for identifying parents and children to be tightened up immediately.

There should be a wristband system in place. Please inform them.

If parents/carers are not allowed further then the door then there should be a member of staff who comes to the door and asks what child is being picked up and what the password is (each child should have a pickup password) then the member of staff returns checks password and then takes child to the door.

I would be talking to the manager about this asap.

Yikes! That's pretty serious. Id definitely speak to the manager and see what they say. If it was a brand new staff member they may be confused as to who is who but with that in mind should not have been taking children's out to parents.

Hey I work in a nursery setting. I’ve witnessed this happen once before and our management were notified said staff member was we given a disciplinary and also was taken off handovers until management were confident this would not happen again I know this because I was close to staff member that got it wrong. I’m quite appalled to be honest because if I was ever unsure I’d ask another staff member or management If I was correct for instance if a grandparent or auntie had came along to collect I’d double check and also we’ve been known before to say to an adult give me 2 minutes to confirm your identity and then we will do handover and in that time we’d ring parents and get the password. This just shows you how strict and regimented it can be. So I’d definitely send a compliant in.

They would not loose their job they’d probably have a disciplinary and further training/support to ensure this doesn’t happen again but I also think it’s terrible advice because management can also ask other staff who did said handover or watch CCTV of it as evidence

Perhaps it's inevitable that the person will be identified but OP can still emphasise that it's the procedure she wants improved, not an individual punished.

This is a major safe guarding issue that needs to be raised to higher management not just to the internal management. Definitely report and make sure it's followed up to see how it was dealt with and how things will be different going forward.

That's really shocking.
They clearly didn't know who you were.

For new parents, they should ask for identification, for starters.

It’s not just about handover either, it’s identifying the right baby for medication, allergies etc. Definitely report to nursery manager.