Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006250220
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PONTIAC, MICH. LENGTH: Short
"We don't have anything left," Michele L'Esperance told The Oakland Press in an interview Friday at her home in Springfield Township. "We're selling everything, the horses, my fur coat, everything."
The quintuplets - Alexandria, Danielle, Erica, Veronica and Raymond Jr. - were born Jan. 11, 1988 to L'Esperance and her husband, Raymond.
People magazine paid for an exclusive cover story in 1988, and corporate sponsors lined up to supply diapers and baby food. But the babies' fame hasn't even covered basic costs, their parents said.
She said the family pays $350 a week to feed the four girls and one boy along with the babies' two older brothers, a half-brother and three nieces they took in last year.
The L'Esperances said their phone has been cut off, they have received a shutoff notice from the electric company, and their limousine - the only car big enough to hold the family - has been repossessed.
"It's gotten so I don't know if we'll have enough money for diapers," Michele L'Esperance said.
The family receives $295 a month in welfare for the nieces, but they planned to ask a court today to place the nieces in foster homes.
"She has a big heart and she's trying to keep the family together," said Frank Millard, an attorney for the nieces. "But they can't go on like this."
Raymond L'Esperance is a corrections officer earning about $26,000 a year and has taken a second full-time job. His wife works for a shelter for battered women.
by CNB