According to statistics, more than 250,000 children are placed into foster care each year in the United States alone, and every 25 minutes, a baby is born addicted to drugs in the United States; that is almost more than 20,000 babies.

A woman named Clara Hale, out of the kindness of her heart, fostered hundreds of drug-addicted babies in her own home.

This is her story.

Clara McBride Hale was born on April 1st, 1905, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When she was very young, her father was killed, forcing her mother to take in lodgers to support her four children. And when Clara was 16, her mother passed away.

She graduated high school on her own, married Thomas Hale, and moved to New York City. They had three children—two of their own and one adopted. Her husband ran a business and went to college, while she worked as a janitor. They had only been married a few years when Thomas died of cancer. Clara cleaned houses and continued her job as a domestic, but eventually left those jobs to spend more time with her children.

While raising her children in Harlem, Clara developed a deep sympathy for abandoned and neglected children. In the 1940s, she began providing short-term and long-term care for community children in her home for homeless children and taught parents essential parenting skills. Many children came and went from the Hale House and found permanent homes for homeless children.

Her own children grew to consider each newcomer one of their own. Hale told Parade's Tom Seligson, "My daughter says she was almost sixteen before she realized all these other kids weren't her real sisters and brothers. Everyone called me 'Mommy'"

She opened her home for childcare, keeping the children while their parents worked during the day. Many of the parents of the children in Hale's care were live-in domestics.

The children became extremely attached to Hale and her family. They preferred to spend the week at Hale's house and only spend the weekends with their own families.

 Hale acquired a license to take foster children into her home. She raised some 40 of the children into adulthood with a healthy dose of self-esteem. Even when her foster children grew up and had children of their own, she regarded them as her own grandchildren.

Hale raised as many children as her own, and the size of her natural family varies from source to source. Her daughter Lorraine earned a Ph.D. in child development and became the Executive Director of Hale House.

Clara Hale continued to provide foster care for 25 years and then retired in 1968. But in 1969, she was confronted by a young drug-addicted mother too intoxicated to care for her baby. And Hale was unable to turn her back on them.

Lorraine, Hale's daughter, had encountered the young mother in dire circumstances and sent them to Clara for help. Clara was 64 at the time, but she refused to turn them away.

It was then that the mother disappeared when Hale made a phone call in the other room and left her baby behind. Hale took in the baby girl and nursed her through her drug withdrawals.

The same young mother had more children when she returned to the Hale residence and left them with Clara. The woman eventually returned to take her children back, and Hale reunited the family and never charged her a penny for her help.

Within a few weeks, Hale's apartment was packed with 27 drug-addicted babies. Some were abandoned, and some were orphaned. Mother Hale told Irene Verag of 'Newsday': "Before I knew it, every pregnant addict in Harlem knew about the crazy lady who would give her baby a home."

The Hale family slowly allowed their lives to become virtually consumed by the effort to instill hope and inject healing into the lives of addicted parents in Harlem. The dedicated family worked day and night to support their cause.

Mother Hale kept the frailest of the infants in her own bedroom, cradling them and walking the floors all night when necessary to comfort each one through the painful experience of detoxification.

Her own children took on as many jobs as necessary to bring in the funds to support the many, many children who came into their home. "It wasn't their fault; they were born addicted. Love them. Help one another." Hale explained to others, as quoted in 'The Chicago Tribune'

Many babies were premature and sickly when they arrived at Hale's residence; some had become addicted to heroin in the womb. The babies often suffered from shaking fits and shivering. They would scratch their own bodies and make themselves bleed.

The majority of babies were addicted to crack cocaine. Passivity and developmental delays were commonplace symptoms among the babies at Hale House. The detoxification process took weeks, and Mother Hale strictly refused to administer drug therapies to her babies.

Instead, she comforts them through their withdrawals with personal care and compassion. "We hold them and touch them." Often quoted words from Hale, noted in the 'New York Times', "They love you to tell them how great they are, how good they are; somehow, even at a young age, they understand that."

Many of the children were withdrawn in their behavior, but Mother Hale had a knack for bolstering fragile egos by providing the children with verbal reinforcement, hugs, and smiles. It wasn't long before the work of the Hale family came to the attention of noteworthy philanthropic citizens, civil welfare bureaus, and public assistance agencies. The Hales succeeded in securing a federal grant to renovate a five-story house on 122nd Street.

The Harlem brownstone was dubbed 'Hale House'.

Famed philanthropist and president of the Manhattan Borough, Percy Sutton, arranged public funding. John Lennon from 'The Beatles' donated thousands of dollars to the Hale House before he died, and the John Lennon Spirit Foundation perpetuated his generosity with annual contributions after his death.

Many other distinguished personalities also recognized the honorable work of Hale House and contributed generously throughout the years in support of the cause. By 1984, Hale House had acquired a staff of seven college-educated caregivers, a license to house fifteen children, and a reputation for never refusing a child.

In an interview with the 'Los Angeles Times' Beverly Beyette, Mother Hale confessed that she would defy the authorities, but never leave a child in need. "Sometimes we have 30 or 40 (children)," she confessed. "(When inspectors come by) we hide them. They say, 'Oh Mother Hale, don't you give us any trouble'" Many of the children were referred to public agencies, including the police and hospitals. Others were simply abandoned by their mothers.

The funding of the Hale House coincided closely with the isolation by medical science of the virus known to cause AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) in humans. The incurable virus can be easily passed among drug addicts who share needles. The virus can also be passed from mother to infant.

Very little was known about the disease or its treatment during that time, but Hale courageously accepted and cared for the children who were known to be infected with the AIDS virus, loving and nurturing them the same as all the other children she cared for.

In 1986, it was estimated that over 500 babies and toddlers had been rescued from drug addiction. Children of all races and backgrounds, from two weeks old to three years old, were sheltered and given the same personal care. The work at Hale House did not stop with caring for the children who were victims of drugs and AIDS.

The parents of Hale House children were offered counseling and assistance in finding housing. The goal of Hale House was to reunite families by teaching the parents to shoulder the responsibilities of life and parenthood. In order to be reunited, addicted parents were required to participate in a rehabilitation program of approximately 18 months, and during that time they were required to maintain contact with their children via weekly visitation.

It is a testament to the success of the program that in 1989, after 20 years of operation, only 12 of the many hundreds of children who had passed through the doors of Hale House had to be placed for adoption. Wayward youths and other addicts also received help and direction to lead better lives.

In 1985, Mother Hale was honored by President Reagan during his State of the Union Address. She was invited to Washington, D.C., where she was seated next to First Lady Regan during the speech when the President introduced her as "A true American hero." She received the applause of the Supreme Court and Congress with characteristic humility. In 1989, she was honored with the Harry S. Truman Award for Public Service.

Hale was honored many times in her life. Despite the accolades, throughout the years, Mother Hale's thoughts were always with the needy children who were brought to her for assistance. In 1986, she told Herschel Johnson of Ebony that, "I'd like for it to go down in history that we taught our children to be proud Black American citizens, and that they could do anything, and that they could do it for themselves."

In 1990, Hale, who was now 84, was invited to Los Angeles as an honored speaker at a symposium for caregivers and social workers who were working with the problem of infant drug addiction. By then, the public was familiar with Mother Hale's work and her reputation. Her words nonetheless came as a surprise to the professional crowd. As quoted by Beyette, she had little to say about Hale except, "Help another. Love each other," a refrain that she echoed many times in her lifetime.

Dr. Ernie Smith, who also attended the conference, heard the no-nonsense words of Mother Hale and reiterated the message. According to Beyette, He said, "Well, Mother Hale didn't have a Ph.D. or an M.D. or 'Any other kind of "D"' but she took in that first drug baby back in 1969. 'All she had was a rocking chair.'"

As Hale continued her work, she told Beyette, "When I get to Heaven, I'm going to rest." And soon her health began to fail, she became too frail to hold the tiny babies whom she loved so dearly. On December 18th, 1992, she died from complications in New York.

Clara Hale and the Hale House are credited with saving the lives and futures of hundreds of babies over the years. At her funeral in New York, she was eulogized by Reverend Carolyn Knight of the Philadelphia Baptist Church, who praised Mother Hale as "The moral conscience of this city."

Mother Hale's work has been perpetuated by the Hale Foundation in New York.