HOUSTON -- The woman charged with kidnapping the five children she has cared for since Hurricane Katrina was arrested on Thursday. The five Alphonse children are said to be in good health and were returned to their mother while Children’s Protective Services conducts an investigation.

KHOU.com

Rhonda Tavey (center) and her two daughters are pictured with the five children of Erica Alphonse.

CPS said the children's mother Erica Alphonse mus remain in Houston while they conduct an investigation.

An Amber Alert was issued Wednesday afternoon for the three girls and two boys, ages 3 to 8, after Rhonda Tavey, 44, disappeared with the children. On Thursday afternoon, Tavey's mother drove her into Houston from the Dallas area. Tavey was supposedly on her way to the police station to turn herself in, but the FBI and Sheriff's deputies got to to her first.

Tavey's mother said that her daughter is willing to fight for the children.

"We just want them to have a good life and not be mistreated," said Tavey's mother.

Tavey took the children and their mother into her home after they came to Houston from New Orleans. However, in mid-July, the Houston resident and the children disappeared and she is accused of kidnapping the kids.

11 News confirmed that Tavey has retained famed defense attorney Dick DeGuerin as her attorney.

In a phone interview with 11 News on Thursday afternoon, DeGuerin said that Tavey has a document that proves she had legal guardianship of the children and proves she is innocent of the kidnapping charges.

Erica Alphonse saw her kids for the first time in a month Thursday evening. She said she wants to take her children back home to New Orleans and claimed her children told her they want that also.

“There are no words to express how I feel. I got them back,” an elated Alphonse, said while jumping up and down. “'Mom, we're ready to go home, we're going to New Orleans,' that's how they talk they're ready to go home they're happy they have their own room. They're ready to go. It's just a matter of time.”

Tavey had been caring for the five Alphonse children for nearly three years. She met the family while volunteering at the Astrodome where thousands of evacuees were housed in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

She said she provided for them with no financial help from their parents or other family members.

For more than a year the children’s biological mother lived with her children in Tavey's home, but Erica Alphonse admitted to leaving her children in Tavey's care several times while she returned to New Orleans to try and build a new life.

Last month Erica Alphonse returned and said she told Tavey that it was time for her to take her children home to New Orleans for good. That's when she said Tavey "went bananas" and vanished with the children.

"I pray everyday. At least three or four times every day, just take each day at a time,” Erica Alphonse told 11 News on Wednesday.

She said she tried to keep a positive attitude while her children were missing.

"I just go get my pictures. Look at my picture and think about the good things. Me and my children. The good days we had together until I get them back. That is what keeps me going,” said Alphonse.

When asked why she took the children, Tavey said she left with them because she was threatened with a knife by Alphonse and she believed that the children would be in danger if they were left with their real mother.

The Harris County District Attorney's office said it checked out Tavey's accusations and said none of them checked out They also said that Tavey has been less than truthful with them during the course of the investigation.

Still, the CPS will investigate.

“Because there have been allegations made of possible abuse in that home, that the children would be in danger if they returned to the home, we really just have to check it out,” the CPS' Estella Olguin said. “There has to be some significant evidence that there might be abuse in their home. We can’t just take them because someone thinks they can be a better parent than the other.”

The DA's office filed five kidnapping charges on Tavey after she refused to bring the children in.

”You get to a point of no choice but to file the criminal charges. We’ve resorted to everything. We’ve given her every option to cooperate and to assist us, every opportunity to do the right thing," said Assistant District Attorney Jane Waters. "She has put us in the position of having to file the criminal charges.”

Tavey is currently in police custody and if convicted could face 2 to 10 years in prison.