5 children reunited with mother; surrogate mom in Harris jail

Late Thursday, Tavey, 44, was being held in the Harris County Jail without bail. Prosecutors called her a flight risk.

Meanwhile, the children, who were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, were allowed to stay with their mother's aunt in southwest Houston.

The mother, Erica Alphonse, can also stay at the home while CPS conducts an investigation into Tavey's allegations of abuse, said CPS spokeswoman Estella Olguin.

Before the criminal case mounted against Tavey, CPS workers had no reason to believe the children were in danger.

"We don't have a public record of involvement with either of these mothers," said Olguin.

Tavey said in phone interviews from hiding that she was protecting the brood from possible abuse if they were returned to their mother.

She said Alphonse hit the children, that she used drugs, that she was dating a convicted murderer. She said Alphonse pulled a knife on her July 11, and that's why she left.

Alphonse denies the accusations and said the CPS investigation would find no traces of drugs and no criminal record.

On Thursday, Alphonse's children were interviewed by social workers and investigators for the district attorney.

Background checkIn a normal kidnapping case, the children would be immediately returned to their mother, Olguin said, but because of Tavey's accusations, CPS workers will conduct a full investigation that could include background checks and drug tests for Alphonse.

Investigators will also interview Tavey, Olguin said.

Tavey and Alphonse met three years ago at Reliant Park, where Alphonse and her young children sought refuge after Katrina's floodwaters forced them from their New Orleans home.

Alphonse, now 24, had nothing. And although Tavey, a single mother of two teenage girls, had little more, she offered to care for the children while Alphonse got back on her feet.

But Tavey says Alphonse then effectively abandoned the kids in Houston while she returned to New Orleans, never supporting the children financially and only visiting them a handful of times in the past two years.

 

link to full to story:  http://www.chron.com/...adline/metro/5928532.html

link to other story: http://www.nowpublic.com/world/katrina-a...