Parents of a toddler boy in Mississippi are hoping for justice after he was reportedly attacked by an older child at a daycare last week, when the daycare worker stepped out of the room.

ABC reports 18-month-old Dakota Hudson can’t yet talk to tell what happened to him, but to his parents, photos tell a thousand words. While at Pascagoula home daycare, a 4-year-old boy allegedly attacked Dakota so brutally that he was left with scratches on his faces, eyes, chest, and head.

According to the child’s mother, Latoye Sutter, she dropped the little boy off at the Pooh and the Crew home daycare on Thursday morning. Within a few hours, she received a text message from the owner of the that her son had been injured.

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“I’m not sure how you’re going to take this, but it’s bad,” the owner reportedly said in the message.

“I asked her to send me some photos. It took her a minute to send them back, but when I saw the photos I left immediately,” Sutter told FOX26.

The mom explained that the daycare owner told her the two children were lying down next to each and were OK when she left the room.

“She said my son was laying on his cot sleeping, and the other child was next to him on his cot on the iPad when she stepped out of the room. She said they were okay… and the next thing she knew my son was crying, and when she came back over and turned the light on my son was standing there covered in blood.”

Instead of calling 911, daycare employees immediately drove Dakota to the hospital but the extent of his injuries prompted a police report, and now, an investigation by the Department of Health and the Mississippi State Department of Health.

According to Local 12 News, officials said the daycare facility is not licensed, but daycares in Mississippi aren’t required to be licensed if there are no more than six children being taken care of. The daycare has yet to comment publicly and it’s still unclear how many children were at the home daycare on the morning in question.

Meanwhile, Sutton said her toddler is now more withdrawn and not as independent as he once was.

“He’s a little withdrawn. He’s clingy. If you get up to go to another room, he follows you. He doesn’t just venture off like he used to by himself.”

So far, no charges have been filed against the daycare or anyone else.

The story is still developing. Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.

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[Feature Photo: Dakota Hudson/Facebook]