Becky O'Connell has been given a unique unofficial title—"The Baby Whisperer." Officially, the 65-year-old woman is a temporary foster care worker. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, "She keeps baby clothes arranged by size in the guest room. The hand-knit caps are stacked on a table near the door. And the white wicker bassinet is always within reach." Becky O'Connell is prepared because at any moment of the day or night she could receive a call from a social worker who needs to place an infant in her care. Some of the children have been abandoned. Others have been abused. All of them are desperate for love, for touch, and for attention. So far Ms. O'Connell has taken in 77 infants, or about seven babies per year that stay from one night to four months.

The road to this unique call wasn't easy. In 1999 her youngest son, Ian, was killed in a car accident. "For years and years after (his death), I couldn't concentrate," she says. "I looked and acted like a normal person, but you don't feel like a normal person." A few years later, as she was just beginning to regain her balance, she read an ad from a local adoption agency. They needed someone to be a temporary foster parent for newborns. To O'Connell, who had always loved babies, it sounded like a dream job.

If she has a secret, she says, it is simply giving each child her undivided attention. She adds, "People think that babies bring a lot of disorder and confusion to a household," she says. "But I'm here to tell you it's not the babies who are disordered and confused. It's the adults."

O'Connell simply says, "My job is to fall in love with these babies."