The estranged family of 11 malnourished children rescued from a squalid New Mexico compound have called the discovery of the children’s conditions “heartbreaking, sad and embarrassing for the rest of the family”.

The children, ranging in age from one to 15, were discovered last week in a raid of a partially underground rural New Mexico compound and turned over to state child welfare workers. “They were skinny, their ribs showed, they were in very poor hygiene and very scared,” Taos county Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe told ABC News Radio.

Five adults, who were all either parents or aunts and uncles to the children, were initially arrested in the raid, and all five have been charged with 11 counts of child abuse. The two men arrested, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Lucan Morton, face additional charges related to child abduction and harboring a fugitive.

A file photo released by the Taos county sheriff’s office on 3 August shows an aerial view of a rural compound in Amalia, New Mexico. Photograph: AP

An immediate family member of the children, who did not want to be identified by name, told the Guardian that the five adults absconded with them from the Atlanta area in November after developing fringe supernatural beliefs and becoming isolated from family and friends. “I feel like it made them lose their minds and that’s why they left,” the family member said.

The raid was prompted by a months-long search for a now four-year-old child, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, who went missing in Atlanta, Georgia, in November. According to social media posts by the boy’s mother, his father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, disappeared with the child after saying he was taking him to the park.

In a tearful Facebook Live video in January, Hakima Ramzi pleaded for the return of her son, who she said had physical and mental disabilities.

According to the family member who spoke with the Guardian, these health difficulties pushed the faction of the family to skip town - believing that the boy was being possessed by jinns, or evil spirits, and in need of an exorcism ritual.

Abdul-Ghani was not among the 11 children found at the compound, but authorities said they “reasonably believe” he was there as recently as a few weeks ago.

The family member said at this point the family is focused on the search for Abdul-Ghani, which continues, and holds out hope that he will be found.

I am “definitely trying [my] best to stay confident and optimistic that we will find him”, the member said. “I have to, not just for him, but for his mother as well. It’s really hard to see her through these months and see how much pain she’s in. She wants her son back.”