That's What Friends (& Dr. Phil) Are For: Octomom Gets Support Team

At the urging of Dr. Phil, Nadya Suleman accepts child care help from nonprofit Angels in Waiting

Realizing she needs more than a wing and a prayer to help her care for 14 kids, Nadya Suleman is turning to the Angels.

After originally rejecting help from the child care nonprofit Angels in Waiting, Octomom—with the urging of her new BFF, Dr. Phil McGraw, and attorney Gloria Allred—has thought better of it and accepted the magnanimous offer so that arrangements can be made in time for her infant octuplets' release from the Los Angeles hospital where they've been since birth.

As has been the case with so much of Suleman's life these days, further details will be revealed on TV, specifically in a two-part Dr. Phil special airing March 10 and 11.

McGraw had previously estimated that, while it was theoretically possible for Suleman to raise all 14 children herself with extensive training, it would take 80 to 90 volunteers a week to ensure proper care for her brood.

"Nadya realized that she had to make every effort to care for the octuplets as well as the six children at home in a way that proved that she understood the enormity and complexity of the task ahead," McGraw said in a statement. "The plan in place, which could not have happened without attorney Gloria Allred and Angels in Waiting, affords all of the Suleman children a chance to grow and thrive."

For starters, Angels in Waiting will arrange for neonatal intensive-care nurses to provide around-the-clock care for the babies as well as psychological and physical therapy specialists to work with Suleman's older children, who range in age from 2 to 7.

The news comes in handy amid reports that Suleman is about to move in to a new 2,400-square foot home in suburban L.A.

The need for such services will be reevaluated every six months, according to Angels CEO Linda Conforti West.

"I am delighted that Nadya understood that the offer from Angels in Waiting was made in the best interest of the children, and I am equally delighted that we could find a way to provide help and support so that she could remain in her own neighborhood," said Allred, who was the one who first instigated an inquiry with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services into Suleman's fitness as a mother.