A mother says she feels like a failure, after her four-year-old son was found walking the streets, drinking beer.

Hayden Wright managed to break the security locks on the door in his home in Tennessee, and escape into the night.

Officers say he was also wearing a dress when he was found.

His mother April said she panicked when she woke up and found her son wasn't there.

"He runs away trying to find his father," she said. "He wants to get in trouble so he can go to jail, because that's where his daddy is."

It's understood police reports say the boy rang the doorbell of a nearby neighbour, who found him holding a partially drunk can of beer.

"He got it out of my father's cooler in the back and how he got it open I don't understand because it was one of those tab beers," said his mother.

But that wasn't the end of it. It's also reported that Hayden snuck into a nearby house, and stole five christmas gifts, one of which was the brown girl's dress that he was wearing when he was found.

April Wright said she was embarrassed and scared, But she added, "Kids do things like this and it's out of your control, you can only do the best you can as a mother, everyone makes mistakes. It was an honest mistake."

Child Protective Services says April Wright will get to keep custody of Hayden.