Idaho children to be placed in foster home

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

GARFIELD BAY, Idaho (CNN) -- The five McGuckin children who held off police in Idaho for five days will be placed in a foster home, an official announced.

"The children will be placed in the household of someone they know and all the children will be placed together," Michelle Britton of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Sunday.

Britton also said her department's first goal would be to reunite the children with their mother, if possible.

Authorities earlier identified the children as Kathryn, 16, Mary, 13, James, 11, Frederick, 9, and Jane, 8. They have been reunited with Benjamin, 15, who had left the home earlier and was taken into protective custody Thursday.

An initial, closed hearing will be held to determine if the children should remain in state custody. If that were the outcome, officials would then have 30 days to conduct an investigation to determine what is best for the children.

After the youngsters left their family farm late Saturday, they were taken to Bonner General Hospital, where medical staff checked them out, cleaned them up and gave them a chance to get some needed rest.

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

Britton said their departure from the hospital should not be viewed as the children getting a clean bill of health, just that "a home-like setting is the best place for them."

"I'm not at liberty to tell you any details, but generally they're OK," she said. "You have to recognize they've been through a lot of trauma and to work with them is gonna take time."

Britton asked that the media give the children and their foster family privacy.

An attorney for the mother, JoAnn McGuckin, told The Associated Press that she has not yet been able to see the children.

"She's very relieved that they're safe, and she can't wait to give them a big hug," attorney Bryce Powell said.

With her children in custody, Joann McGuckin's bail has been reduced.

She still faces charges of felonious neglect for not providing enough food or electricity for her children. Her husband, Michael McGuckin, died two weeks ago after bed-ridden for several years with multiple sclerosis.

It was after her arrest and when authorities tried to take the children into protective custody Tuesday that the younger McGuckins set more than two dozen half-wild dogs on the officers. Neighbors said the children were afraid their family would be split up if they gave themselves up to police.

The sheriff's department said family members, close friends of the family and some sheriff deputies spent Saturday talking with the children and convinced them to leave the rundown house where they had holed up.

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

JoAnn McGuckin sent two messages to her children -- with phrases they would recognize -- indicating she was safe and they should cooperate, according to The Associated Press.

Powell told the agency one message came from their Winnie the Pooh book: "Tell them that their mother says they are a whoop-ti-do per bounce."

It was family information they would recognize as coming from their mother, Powell told The Associated Press.

Joann McGuckin's attorney maintains she is innocent and tried to provide the best she could while living in fear after the country sold their property over unpaid taxes.

The community had tried to help, but what is described as Joann McGuckin's paranoia meant those offers were refused. One woman said she was told she would be met by a shotgun if she tried to visit the home again.