Two children in Texas were found living in a bus this week north of Houston, and their jailed parents said that the abandoned school bus was supposed to be a temporary home.

Child welfare officials have since taken custody of the two children -- an 11-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. Their parents were arrested for embezzlement in 2010. Reports are that the children's parents are serving time in federal prison for stealing money from victims of Hurricane Ike, which hit in 2008.

No charges have been filed in the case as yet.

Their father, Mark Shorten, told The Associated Press this week that he and the family came to Houston years ago when a hurricane flooded their Louisiana home. Mark Shorten told the news organization that he had plans to build a house in Splendora before he and his wife were arrested. He said the bus wasn't supposed to be a permanent home for the family.

The house is normally clean, Shorten told The AP. If me or my wife were there, it would not be in that shape, I assure you. Our house would be completed or almost completed.

A concerned postal worker noticed the children earlier this week, and it was later discovered that the two were living in the bus nestled at the end of a muddy, one-lane road, according to The AP.

The children's mother, Sherrie Shorten, told the Houston Chronicle that the family moved from an apartment into the bus in order to save money.

But there was no smell when we lived there, she said.

The parents have said that the children were schooled through a Texas Tech University program. The bus seemed to have electricity. There was also a small propane tank and a homemade grill outside, according to The AP.

Sherrie Shorten is scheduled to be released next month.

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