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A mother was arrested after two toddlers she was allegedly caring for were found chained and tied up in the backyard of a northeast Bexar County, Texas, home late at night, authorities said Friday.

Around 11:45 p.m. Thursday, deputies responded to a report of children crying in the backyard of a residence “for a long period of time,” according to a Facebook post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page.

Deputies found two toddlers when they arrived: one was chained to the ground, while the other was tied to the door with a dog leash, the post stated.

A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office described the condition in which they were discovered in detail later Friday in an interview with local television station KABB.

A 2-year-old boy was “chained to the ground as if he was a dog,” James Keith said. “There was no slack in the chain. His pants were down. You could tell he’d been here for a while. And then a short distance away, a 3-year-old girl who was tied to a door with a dog leash who was just exhausted.”

The youngsters were transported to a children’s hospital in San Antonio and treated “for a variety of issues” after deputies freed them, authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Deputies then went inside the home and found six other kids between the ages of 10 months and 13 years old alone without adult supervision, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

They were all removed from the residence and placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.

“To describe this as disturbing is an understatement,” Keith said. “It makes you wonder what somebody’s thinking. How could they do this?”

The parents of the six children arrived home early Friday morning and were taken into custody for questioning.

The mother, identified as Porucha Phillips, was later arrested, according to the post. Investigators believe she was responsible for the care of the toddlers found tied up in the backyard.

Phillips faces charges of injury to a child by omission with serious bodily injury, and injury to a child by omission with a bodily injury, authorities said.

Authorities were still searching for the parents of the two toddlers.

The CNN Wire contributed to this story.

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