the fact that this woman is family to OP may make it easier for family members to step in and help take care of the children.

CPS would place the kids with one of those family members if they felt it was necessary to remove the children. They always go to family members first in those situations. Plus it would only be until she could take them back which would relive the kids and the mom's stress in the meantime. That could even help her get back on track sooner!

They may not even decide to remove the children though if they decide that everything that's wrong is easily fixable. In that case they would just make sure things got fixed, offer any welfare/mental health assistance if needed, and then check back in occasionally to make sure everyone is still doing well.