A US judge has freed the Idaho woman whose six children held off law enforcement officers for five days, reducing the child neglect charge against her to a misdemeanour.

The mother of six children who refused to leave their Idaho home during a five-day stalemate with police said she does not want her case to become a political cause.

Armed with rifles and a pack of wild dogs, a family of six children stayed in their ramshackle Idaho home for a third day, refusing to accept help from government officials they fear and distrust.