— Authorities arrested a Union County Department of Social Services worker and a Monroe man Friday night after an 11-year-old boy was found handcuffed to the front porch of a home with a dead chicken tied around his neck, investigators said.

WBTV of Charlotte reported a deputy was answering an animal services complaint next door to the home on Austin Road, south of Monroe, when he saw a child secured to the front porch at the ankle, by what appeared to be a pair of handcuffs.

The child also had a dead chicken hanging around his neck, and appeared to be shivering, the deputy said.

Moments later, 57-year-old Dorian Lee Harper appeared on the porch along with another child who released several large dogs onto the officer.

When additional officers arrived, they removed five children from the home.

According to authorities, Harper and Wanda Sue Larson, 57, were arrested.

Larson was a supervisor with Union County Department of Social Services.

Officials told WBTV that while Larson was not present at the time the children were discovered, she is accused of being complicit in the ongoing mistreatment of the children. She and Harper had adopted four of the children, and were serving as foster parents of the 11-year-old, who was found on the porch.

Harper and Lawson were being held in the Union County jail Friday. Both were scheduled to be in court Monday.

Harper and Larson were charged with intentional child abuse, inflicting serious injury, false imprisonment and cruelty to animals, according to authorities.

The children are now in the custody of an undisclosed Social Services agency outside of Union County.