As Mary Beth Hearn stared at pictures of her three young children, tears began to fall. One of her daughters turns 4 today. She also has a 6-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son.

All three children were taken from their mother on Nov. 22, a week before Thanksgiving and more than a month before Christmas.

Unopened presents are scattered under the Christmas tree that Ms. Hearn's children helped decorate, waiting to be unwrapped when the kids return home.

"They've been in foster care for three months and they miss us. It's so hard to say goodbye after the visits, especially with (the 4-year-old). She wants to know when she's coming home. It's hard to explain to the kids that we don't know when," Ms. Hearn, 24, said.

The three children were taken from her after an investigation by Trumbull County Children's Services alleged that the girls were raped on Sept. 15 and again on Sept. 20.

Ms. Hearn's brother, Mark B. Hearn, 19, was charged with four counts of rape. He's being held in Trumbull County Jail after failing to post $500,000 bond.

Karen A. Johnson, 43, of Masury, said she doesn't know if the charges against her son are true. "If he did this, then yes he's where he belongs. He can get the help that he needs," she said.

She and her daughter, Ms. Hearn, are each facing four misdemeanor counts of child endangering after police said they "violated their duty of care, protection and support" to the girls while in their custody.

Currently free on bond, the two women said they are upset with how officials have treated them.

Ms. Johnson said she was arrested without being read her rights, and a warrant was never produced.

Pre-trials for both Ms. Johnson and Ms. Hearn were delayed for two weeks Tuesday after their lawyers requested a motion of discovery to review materials. Ms. Hearn is to appear this morning at a pre-trial hearing, scheduled before Judge W. Wyatt McKay.

Ms. Hearn said one of her daughters came forward and told her that Hearn "touched her" and that "it was a secret."

The family decided to send him to live with his biological father in Delaware. Michael Damato -- Ms. Johnson's fiance -- was working as a courier at the time and drove Hearn there on Dec. 19.

On Dec. 22, Hearn's birthday, his father gave him a bus ticket back to Ohio. In the meantime, Ms. Johnson said her ex-husband had also notified Hearn's old psychiatrist about the issue, who in turn notified authorities in Ohio.

On a good day, Hearn is like a 14-year-old kid, his family said. His life revolves around cartoons, video games and action figures. He was planning to join the Job Corps and had an appointment scheduled for Feb. 12, but those plans have come to a halt. After the children were taken away, he was twice admitted to Belmont Pines, a psychiatric hospital, because of depression and self-injury.

The family members all maintain Hearn was never left unsupervised with the children, which was a request made from Children's Services during the investigation.

For now, they say, they're trying to return to life as best as they know how.

"All we want are the kids back home," Damato said.