Octuplets mother fires nanny agency
Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman fired a non-profit 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.
Ms Suleman's lawyer Jeff Czech said the relationship started badly between Ms Suleman and Angels in Waiting, which has been training nannies paid by Ms Suleman at the family's La Habra home.
Last month a lawyer for Angels in Waiting filed a complaint against Ms Suleman with child welfare officials, seeking an investigation into whether the mother could provide a suitable environment for her 14 children.
Ms Suleman later had several confrontations with the nurses, Mr Czech said, and the situation grew unbearable on Sunday when Ms Suleman came to believe that Angels in Waiting founder Linda West-Conforti was allegedly filing a report against her with child welfare officials.
"It started out adversarial and never really resolved itself," Mr Czech said. "Nadya felt that she was being judged wrongfully and she didn't need it. All it did was make a difficult situation worse."
Mr Czech did not detail the complaint and lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents the nurses' group, refused comment, saying more details will be released.
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 Ms Suleman's nannies.
Ms Suleman has said the offer was changed because the group was not receiving donations, but Ms Allred denied that claim.
Mr Czech said that Ms Suleman will have her nannies trained by nurses from the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Centre, where the octuplets were born on January 26.
Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson 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. The services are covered through Ms Suleman's insurance policy, Mr Anderson said.
Four of the octuplets are home from the hospital, and Ms Suleman has six other children.
