Octuplets' mom already has 6 young kids at home.

starbright · February 12, 2009, 10:22am

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California’s octuplets mum, already jobless and receiving food stamps, has gone into hiding with her six older children because of death threats, her spokesman said on Wednesday.

Nadya Suleman, 33, has come under mounting public ridicule for expanding her already large family via fertility treatments that led to the January 26 birth of six boys and two girls at a Los Angeles-area hospital.

That criticism has mushroomed as it was reported that she was divorced, living with her parents, unemployed for several years, receiving disability checks for three of her children – one of whom is autistic – and collecting nearly $500 (347.75 pounds) a month in food stamps.

She acknowledged those circumstances in a series of NBC television interviews but insisted in a segment aired on Tuesday on “Dateline NBC” that she was “not living off any taxpayer money” and that assistance she now receives is temporary.

The broadcast drew the highest “Dateline” ratings since a 2007 interview with Prince William and Prince Harry.

Suleman, who was working towards an advanced degree in counselling, said she owes close to $50,000 in student loans, which also are her sole source of non-government income.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Kaiser Permanente hospital where the newborns remain is seeking reimbursement for the cost of their care from Medi-Cal, the sate’s health care program for the poor. Those costs are expected to reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the newspaper said.

‘UNDISCLOSED LOCATION’

For the past few days, Suleman and her six older children, ages 2 to 7, have moved into “what we are referring to as an undisclosed location,” said Michael Furtney, a public relations consultant working for the family. The Web site RadarOnline.com reported the family was staying at a hotel.

Furtney said Suleman and the PR firm have been deluged with hostile telephone and email messages in recent days, some of them containing threats of violence and death.

“The bulk of them just rail against her being, as they would refer to her, as a person who’s taking advantage of the system, and they just go from there,” Furtney said.

He also acknowledged that the hostile messages have so far outnumbered the well-wishes, but added, “the positive notes are beginning to catch up with the not so positive ones.”

Some have been directed to a new Suleman family Web site that solicits private donations to help support them.

The site is adorned with photos of the mother and her eight newborns, along with images of a baby bottle, a pacifier, a rainbow and alphabet blocks spelling out the word “love.”

Below the greeting, “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts – Nadya Suleman and children,” are heart-shaped links that invite visitors to comment and to make a contribution.

Furtney said people have primarily been offering furniture, clothing, food and other essentials, and someone even promised to donate breast milk. He said one Indiana farmer has offered to have the whole family live with him and his family.

He said “volunteers” were paying for her temporary living arrangements.

Suleman might temporarily move back into her mother’s three-bedroom house in a Los Angeles suburb, but that house will likely prove too small for all 14 children, Furtney said.

Suleman’s mother, Angela, has called her daughter’s decision to keep expanding her family “unconscionable” and she said she had pleaded with her daughter’s fertility doctor not to implant her with more embryos.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Osterman)

littlegreenmom · February 12, 2009, 10:37am

It is true. She is an easy target. She is also nuts. I stand by that statement.

She also has said that she has been obsessed with children from a young age. Even in her own marriage, she has said that she realized she wasn’t “in love” with her husband, but “in love” with the idea of having children.

I won’t be contributing to her care, or her children’s care. Not directly, at least. I am a California taxpayer. I figure I will be helping her out with my tax dollars.

I adore each one of my children. They are the light of my life. But I knew, instinctively, that I couldn’t afford to keep having more. I don’t have a home large enough, I don’t have a car large enough and I don’t have the financial resources to pull that trick off.

Some people are obsessed with collecting bigger and more expensive toys. She has chosen parenthood and collecting children as her hobby. We may not agree on that. That is definitely how I see it.

If she were a single mom raising foster children, I bet we would look at it in a far different way, slightly less judgemental. I know I would view it differently. There are some financial assistance measures that come with the state to help in the care of these kids who are in broken homes. I doubt if I would blink an eye, if the Child Protective Services said she could physically and financially manage. I still would wonder how a single parent could do it. I know I couldn’t raise 14 children alone.

I also doubt that CPS would place 14 children under the age of 7 in a single parent home.

But she has said that her goal was to surround herself with children. She has. Now what? We are all in various stages of fury over this because we know that she is not paying for it. She won’t be able to physically manage on her own. Only with the kindness of strangers and the government stepping in will she be able to cope. Somewhat.

She hasn’t thought this all through. Listening to her speak on the Dateline interview, she is in la-la land. Delusional, at best. She may be in love with the idea of having so many children, but no one person is capable of caring for that many infants at one time, not to mention the 6 other young children.

Nadya is hoping to get a talk show on tv where she bills herself as a childcare expert. If people watch it, it is because they are curious. As in, watching a car wreck, curious.

Is it convenient to bag on her? I think we are all wondering what possessed a young, intelligent woman into doing something so bizarre. If she hadn’t shown up on the doorstep of a hospital for which she didn’t have insurance, she would have been a mild curiousity. When we realized, instantly, that she couldn’t afford it, our sympathy went out the window. When we realized that she already had 6 other children, and no husband or partner, we realized she was certifiable. Does anyone of us doubt this?

And the doctor should be held financially responsible, too.

gladmom · February 12, 2009, 11:02am

I agree that all of her children deserve to be cared for and loved, just like our children, throughout all the stages of their lives. I hope that somehow they get that care.

I also agree that the mom is mentally ill. As a person with mental illness in my family, I have great sympathy for people who are so afflicted. By definition, a person does not consciously choose to be that way, and is at the mercy of their illness if untreated. However, now that her bizarre behavior is out in the open, and is affecting the lives of so many innocent children and others, I hope she gets the help SHE needs to become a responsible, healthy person. It is difficult to get appropriate mental health care when you have no resources or insurance, and even people who have insurance struggle immensely.

VeryHappy · February 12, 2009, 11:09am

It’s also difficult to get appropriate mental health care when you have 14 children to take care of.

Hell, it’s difficult to brush your teeth when you have 14 children to take care of.

gladmom · February 12, 2009, 11:22am

Agreed. And mentally ill people have to want to get better, and be willing to work hard in order to have a hope of improvement. This mom seems to think she is just fine.

Unless she receives large infusions of cash from wherever, I can’t see her being much involved in raising any of her kids. As other posters have described, it will take the work of many adults to raise them all. And I predict that many (if not all) of her kids will be removed from her care.

bulletandpima · February 12, 2009, 11:28am

I would not donate any money for fear that she would diverted from the kids and to herself.

cmbmom · February 12, 2009, 12:44pm

MSNBC just ran a crawl that said someone had offered Suleman a reality series.

cartera45 · February 12, 2009, 12:46pm

I hope they call it “Octomom.” That name is growing on me.

showmom858 · February 12, 2009, 12:47pm

I am a California taxpayer who is going to have to pay $.12 cents more per gallon of gas, double my car tax, sales tax of almost 10% and increased income tax. This is all due to our state government and their mishandling of finances in CA.

Now on top of this I am going to have to pay for this woman and her children? You can bet I am outraged as all of us should be. Any money she makes should be put into a trust that is not overseen by this woman and used to care for these children. And if she should get any kind of a television deal she damn well better pay back the state!

As others have said, I am the mother of two girls as my H and I knew that this was the family size we could support ourselves.

zoosermom · February 12, 2009, 12:56pm

The newspapers here are reporting that NBC may have paid a million dollars for access and that there will be more to come.

musicamusica · February 12, 2009, 1:02pm

"However. I’m really disturbed by the level of vitriol here on this thread and elsewhere. When the posts accusing her of promiscuity began, I started to wonder…what’s next? Witchcraft? She’s already been called a liar, a cheat, a nutcase, a narcissist, a plastic surgery patient (I didn’t realize that was either illegal or immoral…and the fact that news outlets are SEARCHING FOR RECORDS OF HER SURGERY makes me ill…), a publicity junkie, a beggar, a grossly unfit mother, and the list goes on.
"
Another angry California resident here and I have no problem officially adding witchcraft to the list as well. And I do consider plastic surgery immoral when you are on public assistance.

zoosermom · February 12, 2009, 1:12pm

I think she deserves the vitriol. I think she deserves a swift kick in the backside.

I would take one of those babies in a New York minute.

momofthreeboys · February 12, 2009, 1:26pm

Agree with Zoosermom. The aftermath in terms of taxpayer dollars for the next 18 years minimum, how all those kids will deal with their “family situation” emotionally, her special needs children all because of this woman’s self-absorption is so disgusting I just can’t even find the words to describe how I feel about it all.

MidwestMom2Kids_1 · February 12, 2009, 1:39pm

Does this work for you?

<a href=“http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com/[/url]”>http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com/</a>

cartera45 · February 12, 2009, 1:40pm

I can’t even look at that little one with the feeding tube - the look on his face. It makes me just want to cry. He already looks wiser than his mom.

gladmom · February 12, 2009, 1:45pm

This woman is mentally ill. Her behavior is incomprehensible to us, and her actions are creating unbelievable problems for many people all around her, but rather than punishment, I’d prefer to see her treated for that mental illness so that she doesn’t go and do it again. If she gets lots of money, she might pay for more egg retrieval and IVF on her own, and make more babies. She is like the hoarders who take in tons of cats or dogs and are completely unable to care for them. Even as they see the animals dying due to neglect, they take in more, due to their internal drives. Short of having her declared incompetent, which is extremely difficult to do, she can keep going in her drive to make more children.

hmom5 · February 12, 2009, 1:48pm

I think there’s no doubt that this women’s obsession/fantasy/delusion is going to result in a major breakdown. This woman loved the process and now it’s over and what’s left is children to care for. She won’t get help because she doesn’t acknowledge she has a problem.

Think about it–she went on national TV and calmly explained she’d be finishing school and then going to work and will then be able to support 14 kids while paying off $50K in student loans! She is so sick and delusional that these children, in her care, will suffer beyond what I like to think about.

bethievt · February 12, 2009, 2:06pm

I’m a psychologist and I’m not sure how I’d go about treating this.

cartera45 · February 12, 2009, 2:14pm

bethie - is there a diagnosis for Postpartem Delusion? I only had one child and she was colicky and did her best to cry 24/7. I had support and still went a little crazy. I cannot even begin to begin to imagine what that house will be like and she is just so - unfazed.

Bromfield · February 12, 2009, 2:34pm

Those children (given birth weights of 2 pounds) are not typical babies–they are at serious risk for many health issues. Putting their NICU pictures up on the website suggests to me that the mother is clueless. I don’t think she really understands the potential problems that these kids are facing. She’s free to do as she pleases and I wish her luck, but I think the photos are disturbing.

Octuplets' mom already has 6 young kids at home.

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