JAMESTOWN (AP) - A man facing a child abuse or neglect charge after his two toddlers were found outside in freezing weather is a good father, the children's mother says.

"He's not a bad guy, he's really not," said Stephenie Hess, the children's mother and William McFarland's girlfriend of 10 years. "He's their support."

McFarland, 28, has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was released from the Stutsman County jail Friday, on a promise to appear at future hearings, police said.

McFarland's court-appointed attorney, William Mackenzie, was out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment, a receptionist at his Jamestown law office said.

Police said an officer found the two boys, ages 3 and 2, outside on Nov. 30, crying and pounding on the door, when the temperature was around 7 degrees, with a wind chill factor that made it feel like 10 below zero. Officers said the younger boy was wearing only a diaper.

Police said the boys were not seriously hurt, and they found McFarland hiding under a deck in the back yard.

Hess said she suffered a miscarriage the week before the incident and had gone to the hospital that morning for surgery. When she left, she said, one of the boys was asleep on the living room couch and McFarland was asleep in bed with the other boy.

"He (McFarland) had been up with me night after night when I was up crying," she said. "He was tired and stressed out. He just didn't hear them at all."

Hess said she locked the door when she left the house, but the door still can be opened from the inside. She said McFarland is a very cautious father who won't even let his youngest son climb the stairs by himself. The couple also have a 7-year-old son.

"He's very remorseful," Hess said of McFarland.

Information from: The Jamestown Sun, http://www.jamestownsun.com