A Houston woman who is accused of kidnapping five children she had been caring for since Hurricane Katrina is in custody in Houston, law enforcement officials say.

Rhonda Tavey was taken into custody peacefully at a Houston home believed to belong to her mother. The children, who were with her at the time, will probably be taken into custody by state Child Protective Services, an official said. The Harris County district attorney’s office has custody of Ms. Tavey, who is charged with five counts of felony kidnapping.

Ms. Tavey fled her home in Houston in July and took with her the five young children she has been taking care of for the last three years, since they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. An Amber Alert for the children is still in effect, after a complaint filed by their mom, Erica Alphonse, who has been living between Houston and New Orleans since the storm. She was believed to be in the Dallas area for a while Wednesday and Thursday.

Ms. Tavey maintains that she fled her home because Ms. Alphonse had threatened her and was abusing the children, and only wanted them back so that she could get public assistance money.

Ms. Alphonse has said this is a lie and has publicly asked for her to return her children.

On Wednesday, Ms. Tavey told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that she was saving the children from their own mother.

“Their parents are into drugs, crime, and I know God put these kids into my hands to take care of,” she said from Fort Worth.

As she pleaded with Ms. Tavey to return the children, Ms. Alphonse denied Ms. Tavey’s allegations of wrongdoing.

“I’m saying this from the heart. You’ve been in my family for three years,” Ms. Alphonse said. “You’ve grown accustomed to loving my children and loving me. I’ve grown accustomed to loving you."

Ms. Tavey said she left her Houston home with the children on July 11 after Ms. Alphonse threatened her with a knife over a financial issue. She had also been threatened by the children’s father, she said.

“I left there for fear for my life, not to kidnap the children,” Ms. Tavey said, her voice breaking. “And I told the DA all that.”

Harris County prosecutor Jane Waters said: “She has no legal custody to the children, no legal basis for keeping the children. This was made clear to her.”

Ms. Tavey told The News on Wednesday that Ms. Alphonse had physically abused her children. She said she believes that both parents use drugs and that the children’s father is a convicted felon.

The district attorney’s office, however, has told reporters that Ms. Tavey was not being truthful about the children’s parents but has declined to say what she was lying about. The office told TV reporters that the DA had given her plenty of chances to “do the right thing.”

Moments before Ms. Tavey texted The Dallas Morning News, she said she hired famed Houston criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin to represent her.

Mr. DeGuerin said through his secretary today that he would be “available” to represent Houston mom Rhonda Tavey if she wanted to hire him.

He’s in Colorado until next week, the spokeswoman said, but “if she calls and wants to come in or wants to hire us, we would be available.”

In 2006, Ms. Tavey and Ms. Alphonse told The News that they both felt blessed by the relationship that had developed between their two families after they met at the Astrodome following the hurricane.

Ms. Alphonse, a 22-year-old single mother at the time, had waited out the storm in a housing complex with her children before being taken to Houston.

Ms. Tavey, a single mother from Houston, said she was consumed by health and financial problems before she and her two teenage daughters began volunteering at the Astrodome and bonded with Ms. Alphonse’s family.

The two women told The News that they came to an agreement: Ms. Tavey would help the younger woman get a new start by caring for her children, while Ms. Alphonse would start building a foundation for her family.

Ms. Tavey has cared for the children on her meager income building trophies. She converted her garage into a playroom and bedroom for the children in a modest three-bedroom house in Houston.

Ms. Tavey said at the time that she knew the day could come when the children would go home to their mother and that she was “emotionally preparing” herself for that moment.

WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and the Associated Press contributed to this report.