i don't think that's the case at all. if you read the press releases and newspaper articles when kate was pregnant with the babies her mom was designated as a spokesman for the family-and i think it was the church kate's dad is pastor of or at least associated with by virtue of his pastoral status that spearheaded the fund raising and collections of donations.
i've always thought that it had to be very embarrassing to her family to have asked their church and physical community to help provide for these babies then to have kate turn around and publicly refuse many of the donations because they were'nt what she wanted (in particular all matching items-i mean it's great if someone wants to donate 6 of one item, but when it's individuals who don't even know you and out of the kindness of their own hearts donate a crib or other item and you refuse it because it does'nt match the other ones already donated

). there was also an issue where the one church did as the family requested and solicited volunteers to help round the clock only to have kate then say she did'nt want a bunch of strangers in her home because they were a very private family (that sure changed when it became a financial situation with tlc

millions of us strangers watch them constantly )-but these 'strangers' were members of the church family the family was associated with (this was brought up in kate's state medical appeal when she claimed she could'nt care for the kids alone and because jon worked outside the home she did'nt have anyone available to help out).
she very much strikes me as the kind of person who could easily cut off family or friends if they were'nt doing for her what she felt she was entitled to. you notice that the people you see most interacting with the kids are those that do a great deal for the family-the 'nana's' one who does the laundry and the other who does the ironing, beth and her dh who babysit and have the family over weekly for a meal, the sitter and her dd (who fills in as a sitter)-we realy never saw aunt jody until she began taking the kids more for childcare (we saw jody's dh when he came over and helped jon install the storage stuff for the garage, we've seen a couple of other friend's of jon when they've helped install the carpet or do other home repairs).
i dunno, i know the show is highly edited but i would think that you'de see some interaction with other people-you never see other kids at the house (except the one girl cousin), they never seem to mention maddy or cara going to play at a friends-they just strike me as a family with a very small circle of supporters vs. what i would think of as traditional 'friends'.