Children end standoff in Idaho

The children were seen riding past sheriff's barricades in a sports utility vehicle Saturday evening

GARFIELD BAY, Idaho (CNN) -- Five children ended their five-day standoff with authorities Saturday and voluntarily left their rundown house in rural Idaho where they had been holed up with weapons and half-wild dogs.

Describing sheriff's deputies as tired but happy, one sheriff's department official said authorities got the ending they wanted.

"It was exactly the one we were hoping for: safely, quietly with no undue pressure on the children," said Bonner County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Robert Rahn.

The children are being treated at Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, according to Director of Nursing Susan Montgomery.

Rahn said the children will be turned over to the state's Children's Services Department, which would then be in charge of their care.

Authorities earlier identified the children as Kathryn, 16, Mary, 13, James, 11, Frederick, 9, and Jane, 8.

He also said the family's property was still secured for investigative and safety reasons. Rahn said several agencies had offered to help with the more than two dozen dogs.

VIDEO After five days, children voluntarily leave their home in rural Idaho. CNN's Eileen O'Connor reports (June 3) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Lilian Kim reports on Ben McGuckin, who was involved in the standoff but is now in custody (June 1) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    CNN ACCESS Idaho standoff neighbor: 'It's very bad with the dogs'    MESSAGE BOARD Idaho standoff

The sheriff's department said family members, close friends of the family and some sheriff deputies had spent the day in talks with the children.

The standoff began Tuesday when the children released as many as 27 dogs on sheriff's deputies when they tried to take them into protective custody after their mother was arrested for child neglect. Their father died two weeks ago. Neighbors said the children were afraid their family would be split up if they gave themselves up to police.

Benjamin McGuckin, 15, brother of the five children who had left the home and was taken into protective custody Thursday.

Until Friday, the remaining children had not talked to anyone. On that day, people the children know visited the house, but the children stayed in a back room and would not talk to them face-to-face.

"They got within the threshold of the house and were able to communicate with the children orally," said Bryce Powell, the attorney for JoAnn McGuckin, 45, the mother of the children.

"They brought in food and water and were able to deliver a message from my client to the children which stated, 'I love you. I hope you are okay and please cooperate with this man, Mr. Powell.'"

Sheriff: Mother 'not cooperative'

The children's mother, who remains in jail on $100,000 bond on a charge of felonious injury to children, was "not cooperative" and would not be taken to the home to talk to the children, Rahn said.

A bail reduction hearing for the mother was postponed Friday after a storm knocked out power to the court.

Mrs. McGuckin's husband and the father of the children, Michael McGuckin, died about two weeks ago after being bed-ridden for several years with multiple sclerosis, Rahn said.

Powell said the mother and children have gone through an excruciating ordeal since then. He said the family is "extremely poor," and that the mother had trouble getting Social Security payments in recent weeks. On top of that, he said, their water well broke and they couldn't afford to fix it.

"They had no money and were doing what they could to survive," he said.

It was not clear when Benjamin left the house. He approached a neighbor's house Thursday and they then contacted authorities.

Local attorney Edgar Steele said he had been asked by Mrs. McGuckin to represent the family. He said Benjamin had "been walking around in the woods for two days before approaching the neighbor.

Steele announced Saturday he was voluntarily withdrawing from the case because he had been cut off from all access to Mrs. McGuckin by the Bonner county sheriff.

The lawyer called that action "outrageous" and said he "had not abandoned the McGuckins" and would provide free legal services to the family if any member personally asked him for help.

Aerial photos around the McGuckin family home

Steele said he had been representing Mrs. McGuckin on civil issues, pending the criminal charge against her. He claimed the county seized her property for $8,000 in back taxes and then sold it for approximately $50,000.

He also said the standoff has attracted the attention of anti-government groups, and Internet reports say members of such groups are moving into northern Idaho in response to the standoff.

"Now some of these people, I've seen some of the Internet reports, seem to think somehow that this is another Ruby Ridge in the making," Steele said.

Ruby Ridge was the 1992 shootout in Idaho in which the wife and son of white separatist Randy Weaver were killed during a standoff with federal agents.

Powell said intervention by militia groups would not help.