Grandmother Takes Wrong Child From Belgian Daycare in Mix-Up

A grandmother picking up her grandson from a daycare center in Strombeek-Bever, a sub-municipality of Grimbergen in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, accidentally left with a different two-year-old child on Thursday evening, sparking a 90-minute search and raising urgent questions about childcare identification procedures. The child was returned unharmed after the grandmother realized the mistake at home, according to reports from De Morgen.

The Incident

The mix-up occurred at Kinderdagverblijf Trammelaar, a daycare facility operated by the organization 3Wplus. The grandmother arrived to collect her grandson but left the building pushing a buggy with a yellow ribbon containing a different toddler. When daycare staff noticed the error, they activated the local neighborhood information network (BIN) with an urgent search message, and police were alerted.

According to HLN, the grandmother had a dog with her, which may have contributed to the confusion, as the child’s actual grandmother also owns a dog. The child reportedly responded positively to the woman, and the two toddlers were said to bear a resemblance.

A Mother’s 90 Minutes of Terror

Daphné (32), the mother of the child who was taken, was at work when the incident unfolded. She told HLN that her own mother arrived at the daycare approximately 20 minutes after the grandmother had left, only to discover the child was missing. “Then the ground falls away beneath your feet,” she said.

Daphné, who works as a childcare professional herself, described the agonizing wait. “When I saw him again, I burst into tears. He was healthy, he was laughing, nothing had happened to him,” she said. The child was returned by the grandfather after the grandmother realized the mistake at home. The toddler showed no awareness of the incident.

However, Daphné places the responsibility squarely on the daycare. “Everywhere I hear that the grandmother took the wrong child. But it was the daycare that gave my child to the wrong grandmother,” she said. She noted significant differences between the children — her son can walk while the other child still crawls — and questioned how staff could have made such an error.

Daycare Responds

Nele Macharis, team leader for childcare at 3Wplus, called it an “exceptional incident” and acknowledged the gravity of the situation. “This has never happened to us before and we want to keep it a one-time incident. We assumed that a grandparent recognizes a grandchild,” Macharis told VRT NWS.

The organization held an internal meeting on Friday to evaluate procedures. Macharis announced that new measures would include asking for the full name and identification of all pickup persons, including grandparents.

Mayor of Grimbergen, Bart Laeremans (Vernieuwing), confirmed the incident and called for improved identity checks. “Even when a grandparent comes to pick up a child, identity will have to be checked better from now on. You can’t just assume that everyone automatically takes the right child,” he said.

Broader Implications

The incident has sparked debate about childcare safety protocols in Belgium, where grandparents are commonly authorized to pick up children. The case highlights a fundamental tension: daycare centers rely on family members recognizing their own children, but when that assumption fails, there are often insufficient verification mechanisms in place.

Daphné emphasized that she does not want a “witch hunt” against the grandmother or the other family involved. “I don’t want money and certainly not a witch hunt against the grandmother or the other parents. It’s terrible for them too. I have my son back, and that’s priceless,” she said. However, she and her partner are considering filing a police complaint.

What’s Next

The daycare center has closed for its annual summer holiday as of Friday, July 10. When it reopens, new identification procedures are expected to be in place. The incident has prompted broader public discussion about whether current Flemish childcare regulations under Kind en Gezin (Child and Family) are sufficient to prevent such mix-ups, and whether similar procedural changes may be adopted across other facilities in the region.