A Hollow Holiday for Matriarch of Idaho Family

In a normal year, the McGuckin family would be just starting its observance of the 12 days of Christmas.

Instead, JoAnn McGuckin lives in a tiny motel room. Her husband is dead. Six of their children--who stood off sheriff’s deputies for five days last spring--are in a foster home. Eldest daughter Erina is estranged from the others.

McGuckin, 46, is still angry and refusing to cooperate with the state’s efforts to reunite the family.

“They just came in and rearranged our lives, and no one is holding them accountable for anything,” McGuckin said last week. “You just can’t understand how that can happen in the United States.”

It has been six months since the standoff ended peacefully, but the McGuckins remain in turmoil.

JoAnn McGuckin, instantly recognizable with her thick red hair, spends her days praying, writing in her journal, and meeting with lawyers and doctors.

She sees her children during Sunday Masses at a Roman Catholic church. Sometimes the children visit her motel. There are telephone calls.

“At least I get to play mom over the phone,” she said.

The McGuckins came to national attention May 29 when Bonner County sheriff’s deputies arrested JoAnn McGuckin on child endangerment charges. They had been tipped by Erina, 19, that the family’s home was filthy and that the children were cold and hungry.

When deputies went to the rural home near Garfield Bay to take the six children into custody, the kids, ages 8 to 16, refused to come out.

They were described as armed and guarded by a pack of wild dogs.

The story was widely reported as a variation on Ruby Ridge, involving a family of armed anti-government misfits in a rural Idaho compound.

But the standoff ended peacefully June 2, and the children were declared wards of the state and placed in foster care.

Erina, who left the family last year to join the Navy, said during a June hearing that the home often lacked electricity or running water, and was strewn with garbage, rotting food, and dog and mouse feces. She said her mother spent the family’s scarce money on alcohol.

But all criminal charges against McGuckin were eventually dropped, and the case has evolved into a civil child custody dispute.

The perception of the McGuckins also changed.

Instead of survivalists, it turned out that they were a normal family beset by a run of bad business luck that sank them into poverty while devastating illness struck the main breadwinner.

Michael McGuckin died May 12 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis that left him bedridden for years. A member of a wealthy Massachusetts family, he had supported his family on a $500,000 trust fund. But the money ran out long before he died.

JoAnn McGuckin has cut off contact with Erina and faults her daughter for airing the family’s laundry in public.

“Her dad and I and the kids needed her badly,” she said. “We wanted to remain together tightly as a family as he died.

“Maybe time will heal.”

McGuckin acknowledged that she could not properly care for her family because her husband required constant care. The decision was made to defer housework and other home maintenance.

“We did the minimum we needed to do just to function,” she said. “I made sure the children kept up their personal sanitation.

“I have no regret about spending time with dad as he died. I cherish the time,” she said. “We can live for the rest of our lives on that.”

A revolting video shown in court does not reflect conditions when the family lived in the home, she contended. The videotape was taken after the turmoil of the standoff. She also believes that law enforcement officers planted garbage and human waste in the house before the videotape was made.

Under a state plan, McGuckin cannot regain custody of her children until she fulfills certain undisclosed conditions. She says the state is portraying her as a mentally ill alcoholic, and she is refusing to cooperate with social workers.

Details Kept in Confidence

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare declined to discuss specifics of the McGuckin case for confidentiality reasons.

But spokesman Tom Shanahan said in general that the agency likes to have custody issues resolved within 15 months.

“You can’t leave children in foster care forever,” he said.

The agency typically works with a family and the court system to create a management plan that will ultimately reunite the family, Shanahan said. If parents fail to cooperate, the agency can petition the court to terminate their parental rights, he said.

Asked if she would cooperate with state officials, McGuckin said, “Not a chance. Family sovereignty will be upheld in my life.”

McGuckin and daughter Kathryn have talked about how to spend Christmas Day, but no plan was set. Thanksgiving consisted of sharing orange juice and bagels in her motel room.

She doesn’t have the money to buy the kids much for Christmas.

Her financial situation is desperate. She’s been living for months on $3,500 that was donated by sympathetic people during the standoff. A much larger sum donated through a lawyer is tied up in legal red tape, she said.

Until recently, she was not able to qualify for disability payments, Social Security survivor benefits or other government aid, although that is now starting to change.

Her husband’s family has money, but she became estranged from them after they declined to come to Idaho to visit the ailing Michael.

“I burned the bridges,” she said.

The family’s home and land were sold to pay delinquent property taxes, and the McGuckins got none of the remaining money. McGuckin contends that the sale was inappropriate, and she is considering legal action to reclaim the home.

Her health is improving, especially since she recently qualified for Medicaid and has been receiving treatment for arthritis, a collapsed lung and heart problems, not to mention stress. She’s trying to get into subsidized housing.

She has no car, and catches rides from friends or takes cabs to get around.

Her hopes for the next six months are to continue to improve her health and resume being a mother to her children. But the goal of living in a house with her kids is probably unrealistic any time soon, she said.

She is still suffering a sort of post-traumatic stress related to the standoff, which she followed from the Bonner County jail on television news reports.

“My nerves are still trying to rebuild,” she said.

Support From the Public

With her story so widely publicized and her face in the news for weeks, McGuckin is often recognized on the streets of this lakeside resort town of about 5,000 people.

No one has criticized her for what happened, she said.

McGuckin is aware that many people would disapprove of her refusal to cooperate with state officials in reuniting the family.

“If I don’t follow through on my stance against the state, then all of our families are in danger of being ripped as mine has been,” McGuckin said.