Octuplets mom fires free nanny training service

March 24, 2009

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press Writer Shaya Tayefe Mohajer,

Associated Press Writer – 31 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman has fired a nonprofit group of

nurses that helped care for her children, accusing the group of spying on her

and reporting her to child welfare officials, her spokesman said Monday.

Suleman attorney Jeff Czech said the relationship started badly between Suleman

and Angels in Waiting, which has been training nannies paid by Suleman at the

family's La Habra home.

Last month an attorney for Angels in Waiting filed a complaint against Suleman

with child welfare officials, seeking an investigation into whether the mother

could provide a suitable environment for her 14 children.

Suleman later had several confrontations with the nurses, Czech said, and the

situation grew unbearable Sunday when Suleman came to believe that Angels in

Waiting founder West-Conforti was allegedly filing a report against her

with child welfare officials.

" It started out adversarial and never really resolved itself, " Czech told The

Associated Press. " Nadya felt that she was being judged wrongfully and she

didn't need it. All it did was make a difficult situation worse. "

Czech did not detail the complaint and lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents the

nurses' group, refused comment Monday, saying more details will be released

Tuesday.

A call to the Orange County Department of Children and Family Services was not

immediately returned, but child welfare cases are typically kept private to

protect the identities of the children involved.

Angels in Waiting had initially offered to provide around-the-clock care, to be

paid for by public donations, but later scaled back its offer to only provide

training to Suleman's nannies. Suleman has said the offer was changed because

the group wasn't receiving donations, but Allred has denied that claim.

Czech said that Suleman will have her nannies trained by nurses from the Kaiser

Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, where the octuplets were born on Jan. 26.

Kaiser spokesman Jim said the hospital sends out home health nurses to

provide training and guidance to new mothers, and at least two such visits have

been made to the Suleman home. said he was not sure how much the

program costs.

Four of the octuplets are home from the hospital, and Suleman has six other

children.

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