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Hearing set for Monday in Idaho children case

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The McGuckin family is shown in this copy of a 1990 photograph included in the St. Joseph's Catholic Church directory in Sandpoint, Idaho  


SANDPOINT, Idaho (CNN) -- Bonner County, Idaho, prosecutor Phil Robinson told CNN that a "shelter hearing" for six children who were taken from their home after a five-day police standoff will take place Monday.

During the hearing, a judge could decide to return the children to their mother, keep them in state custody for 30 more days or send them to live with their mother under state supervision.

The mother of the children, JoAnn McGuckin, 46, will be present at the hearing. Her bail hearing is also scheduled to take place Monday.

The McGuckin children -- ages 8 to 16 -- were admitted to the Bonner General Hospital on Sunday, after the standoff ended peacefully.

"Hopefully they'll be out of the hospital," Robinson said. "Then they can be moved into the shelter home. We'll be having that hearing today. Then there'll be another hearing within the month trying to come up with a permanent plan for them."

The mother of the children was arrested Tuesday on charges of felonious neglect for allegedly failing to provide her children with food or electricity. The prosecutor said that, with the children safe, he would lower the mother's $100,000 bail. McGuckin's attorney said he would speak to the prosecutor about securing her release.

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When authorities tried to take her children into protective custody, they holed up inside their home and released a pack of 27 dogs on sheriff's deputies.

The children had been instructed by their parents, neighbors said, to distrust authorities and to refuse help from government agencies.

Their father, Michael McGuckin, died May 12 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis.

The standoff ended Saturday evening after talks between the children and people whom authorities have not identified. A key element in ending the standoff was a promise by officials that they would do everything possible to keep the family together.

"I think that the circumstances were [that] this was a family in trouble," defense attorney Bryce Powell told CNN. "They'd gone through the death of the father. They were extremely poor. The mother was physically ill and they charged her with a crime out of all this, and that's problematic and we'll argue about that in court."

Robinson said the state's concerns over JoAnn McGuckin's care of the children do not involve a single incident.

"This isn't a single incident or even a short-term thing. This is a habitual, long-term situation," said Robinson. "And we're not sure that she (the children's mother) is either willing or able to provide the kind of care they need. She certainly hasn't been in the last several years."

But Powell said the concerns over McGuckin do not rise to the level of a felony.

"Refusal to accept help or excessive pride is not a felony crime that I'm aware of," he said. "JoAnn is a very intelligent woman. She's very articulate, and she's a very good woman."

Powell said he believed McGuckin had been able to talk to her children once by telephone. "She's looking forward to the chance to give her children a big hug. She loves them very much and there's no doubt about that," he said.


Greta@LAW






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• Bonner County Sheriff's Department
• Federal Bureau of Investigation

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