Standoff Kids Face Custody Hearing

June 5 -- A hearing is scheduled today to determine what will happen to the six children who holed up in their remote Idaho home and held off police with guns and a pack of dogs.

Health and welfare officials say the six children will be kept together — a promise made to them before they agreed to end the five-day standoff Saturday night.

The standoff began after their mother was arrested on child neglect charges.

It will be up to a judge to decide whether they will spend the next 30 days in state custody, be returned to their mother with state scrutiny or allowed to go back to her outright.

Welfare officials said they had received a number of offers from foster families in the area willing take in all the children until a decision was made on their long term future.

Police searching the family house on Monday found five guns and ammunition amid dog feces and general disarray. There were also pails of water used as toilets after the water supply was cut off, according to Bonner County prosecutor Phil Robinson.

A judge agreed on Monday to release the childrens' mother, 46-year-old JoAnn McGuckin, but she refused to accept the conditions of her release and will not leave jail, her lawyer said.

Bonner County Magistrate Judge Barbara Buchanan said McGuckin could be released without bail on condition that she would have to return to court to answer charges of child neglect. Buchanan also ordered the mother not to violate custodial orders involving the children or attempt to contact them without permission.

Apology Denied

McGuckin's lawyer, Bryce Powell, said his client would not accept the judge's conditions and demanded that the charges be dropped.

"My client demands dismissal of the charges and child protection proceedings and an apology," Powell said. "She will not leave jail at this time subject to these conditions."

Robinson rejected both demands.

"I have nothing to apologize for and I'm certainly not going to drop the charges," Robinson said.