Latest news with #DannyStewart
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Abandoned Baby Was Initially Mistaken for a Doll. Then the Man Who Found Him Was Asked to Adopt: ‘One Surprise After Another'
"We were in no position to start a family or have a baby enter our lives at all, nor were we thinking about it," says Pete Mercurio — then fate intervenedNEED TO KNOW In 2000, social worker Danny Stewart made headlines when he found an abandoned infant at a New York City subway station Stewart and his then-boyfriend, Pete Mercurio, became the boy's foster parents and eventually adopted him A new animated short film, 18 Months, tells a dramatized version of their storyThere's no wrong way to build a family. That's the message Danny Stewart and his husband, Pete Mercurio, are hoping to spread with a new film 18 Months, inspired by the couple's true story of unexpectedly becoming parents after Stewart found an abandoned baby in a New York City subway station 25 years ago. The six-minute stop-motion animated short from the nonprofit Second Nurture, created by Klick Health and animated by Zombie Studio, with music by Jamute, aims to ignite broader conversations around adoption and lessen stigma. It's also put Stewart, Mercurio and their son back in the spotlight as they share an update on their headline-making story. Back in August 2000, the last thing on the couple's minds was raising a child. 'Not a whiff of it,' Mercurio, 57, tells PEOPLE. 'It was one surprise after another in terms of how it all played out.' Around 8 p.m on Aug. 28, 2000, Stewart, a social worker, was on his way to meet his boyfriend, a writer and graphic designer, for dinner. They'd been together for three years and lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with a partition splitting the living room to provide a sleep space for their then-roommate. 'We had no resources. We were in debt,' Mercurio says. 'We were in no position to start a family or have a baby enter our lives at all, nor were we thinking about it.' But that night, Stewart saw a box with what looked like a doll in it on the 14th Street subway platform — and was shocked when he looked closer and saw movement. He quickly notified authorities and the infant was swept away. Stewart was celebrated as a hero — and interviewed by the likes of CNN and the BBC — before interest in the story initially subsided. That, thought Stewart, now 59, was that. A shiny moment in the news and then back to his regular life. Then things took a wild turn when Stewart was asked to provide testimony at a hearing to sever the baby boy's biological parental rights so that the child, then called "Daniel Ace Doe," could be placed in a foster home. (The birth parents never came forward; a DNA test many years later revealed he was Pacific Islander.) Little baby Doe seemed destined for a life in the foster care system and perhaps adoption down the line until a judge stepped in. At a certain point during the hearing, the judge asked Stewart to stay until the end of the proceedings. That's when she asked an unexpected question: Would he be interested in adopting the baby? He stammered out a yes. It was, says Mercurio, 'The question that changed our lives forever.' The judge got the couple into a short-lived pilot program that allowed them to quickly become foster parents and eventually adopt the boy, whom they named Kevin Stewart-Mercurio. While it was initially a challenge for Mercurio and Stewart, they quickly adapted: Their roommate moved out, and Kevin moved in. A same-sex couple raising a child of a different race, they were generally accepted and supported by their New York City community, they say — though Mercurio admits he was waiting for some sort of pushback or challenge to their adoption during what became a two-year process. 'They're going to see two men on the forms and we're going to get delayed,' Mercurio says of his fears back then. 'None of that happened because the judge was so in charge of everything and wanted this to happen.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Kevin proved to be a motivated and talented boy who excelled academically and socially. The family was open about his origin story, and they shared it with his classmates. 'We wanted to be honest with him,' Stewart says. 'It was always about love and being found.' Mercurio put together a short picture book when Kevin was about 5 as a way to tell the story of how their family came to be, and the dads would read it to Kevin every night. 'Is this about me?' he asked one night. When Mercurio told him it was, Kevin wanted him to read it again. The next time it was his turn at show-and-tell, he brought the book and shared it with his classmates. 'He owned the story after that, which was really comforting for us that it wasn't a traumatic thing for him,' Mercurio says. He says the couple only encountered one piece of hate mail about them being gay and questioning how they could become a real family. But he knows this sort of discrimination has dogged other gay couples. Naturally, as Kevin grew older, he began to ask questions about his background. 'I think in his middle years, just past elementary school as he was entering his teen years, where he seemed to be like 'Who am I?' 'What is my identity?' ' Mercurio says. Their family was also not as well-off as some others in their neighborhood. 'I just got emotional because I remember feeling at the time that if Kevin had been adopted by one of these families, he could have had all that,' Mercurio says. 'But I don't feel that way now.' Stewart says he believes his son struggled a bit with a sense of being alone. 'I think it came to a head in college when he said there were differences not only racially, but also financially and class-wise,' Stewart says. 'As a parent, I wished we could have prepared him for the racial discrimination he felt when he went off to college.' Kevin would tell them how sometimes when he sat down on the bus, people wouldn't sit next to him. Or when he went to school in Philadelphia and would take the train home to New York City — if he was late, he avoided running to the train while wearing his hoodie and carrying his backpack. 'That was just heartbreaking stuff we did not prepare him for,' Mercurio says. Still, Kevin has thrived. In 2022, he graduated from Swarthmore College, outside of Philadelphia, where he double majored in computer science and mathematics. Last year he moved to Pittsburgh and works as a junior software developer at a creative agency. The couple says he supports their projects, like with 18 months, but prefers to stay private with his life. Looking back at their family's journey, Stewart says, 'Everything lined up just so perfectly." Call it serendipity, fate or "some higher power that just was leading things to happen in this particular way," he says. "It just gives me chills." Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
NYC's famous Subway Baby is turning 25 — and thriving
The subway baby is all grown up. This summer marks 25 years since New Yorker Danny Stewart found a baby in a subway station and went on to adopt the infant with his partner, Peter Mercurio. Their touching story is the subject of a new book, 'There: We Found Our Family in a New York City Subway Station' by Mercurio, and a short film, '18 Months,' which just won two awards at Cannes Lions. The film is the work of Second Nurture, an organization that works to support adoptive and foster families and for which Stewart serves as a board member. 'Everyone in New York can relate to something happening in a split second that could have sent their life in one direction or another,' Mercurio told The Post of their story's enduring appeal. 7 Danny Stewart (left) and Peter Mercurio adopted a baby Stewart found abandoned in a subway station. Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio 7 The family's story is the subject of a new animated short film, '18 Months,' from the organization Second Nurture, which works to support foster and adoptive families. The film was made by Klick Health, Zombie Studio, and Jamute. Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio In August 2000, Stewart, then 34, missed the express train at 110th Street, near his apartment in Morningside Heights. By the time he reached the A/C/E station at 14th Street, he was running late to meet Mercurio, then 32, for dinner. As he pushed through the turnstile to exit, he saw what looked like a doll wrapped up in a black hoodie on the ground. Then, one of the doll's legs appeared to move and he realized it was actually a newborn baby. He ran up the steps to call the police from a payphone — this was a time before cell phones were ubiquitous — then raced back down to comfort the tiny infant, who still had part of the umbilical cord attached. Authorities retrieved the baby, but Stewart couldn't forget him. 'I could not stop thinking about him,' he told The Post. 7 Mercurio has just published a book about their family's unique origin story. Still, Stewart, a social worker, didn't initially think he'd adopt the baby. In early December 2000, he went to court to recount his story, so that authorities could prove the baby had been abandoned and speed up the process of finding him a permanent home. During the proceedings, things took an unexpected turn and the judge asked if Stewart was interested in adopting the baby. He was shocked — the judge knew nothing about him — but answered 'Yes.' Mercurio wasn't initially so sure, but Stewart was adamant that he would be proceeding with or without him. 7 Stewart couldn't stop thinking about the baby he'd found. When a judge asked if he was interested in adopting him, he jumped at the chance. Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio 'I knew that he was being motivated by fear,' said Stewart. '[Also,] I thought it was going to be a long process. So I was like, we're going to have time to figure this all out.' 'I said something really snarky, which was 'Good luck being a single parent in New York City.' And it didn't faze him at all,' Mercurio recalled. The process actually ended up being surprisingly quick, thanks to a short-lived pilot program that was meant to cut through red tape and quickly place healthy, abandoned infants in permanent homes. 7 Stewart (left) and Mercurio named their baby Kevin, in honor of a son Mercurio's parents had lost. Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio The pair did one overnight visit with the baby, and Mercurio felt an 'instant bond' when he held the child. 'Everything changed in that moment,' he said. By Christmas, the baby was home with them. They named him Kevin, the moniker Mercurio's parents had planned to give a child they'd lost in 1967. 'The old tears of grief now mixed with new tears of joy,' Mercurio writes in the book of the moment he told his mom and dad about the name. The proud dads called Kevin 'a really easy kid to raise.' 7 The proud dads say Kevin has been an easy kid to raise. Peter Mercurio In 2012, when Kevin was 11, Stewart and Mercurio got married. They asked the same judge who had initially asked Stewart if he wanted to adopt the baby to officiate. They also asked the official — referred to in the book only as Judge Cooper — what she had seen in Stewart that day in 2000. 'All babies need a connection with someone and I was that someone,' he recalled her telling him. The wedding ends the book, but Kevin's story has continued — happily. He attended the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies in Chelsea, near where the family lives, and went on to graduate from Swarthmore College, studying computer science and mathematics. 7 Kevin, who is now living in Pittsburgh and working in website development, recently surprised his dads by coming to NYC for a screening of '18 Months.' Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio He's now based in Pittsburgh, working as a website developer and captaining his Ultimate Frisbee team. Mercurio described him as a 'cool cucumber' but said Kevin made a point of telling him how much he liked the book and how proud of him he was. 'That's all I need,' Mercurio said. 'That's the only review that matters to me.,'
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
We Found A Baby Abandoned In A Subway Station. Here's How He Changed Our Lives.
Danny Stewart found a baby abandoned in a New York City subway station in August 2000. He and his now-husband, Pete Mercurio, were given the option to adopt that baby. Twenty-five years later, during Pride month and on Father's Day, they have written letters to their younger selves, reflecting on how that fateful night changed all their lives forever. Dear Pete, On an ordinary Monday evening in August 2000, you'll be waiting at home for your boyfriend, Danny, to arrive. You have plans to get dinner together, but he's late. Your phone rings... and what he says will change your life forever. He found a newborn baby at a nearby subway station. You will run down to be with him, and see the baby, tiny, yawning, in a police officer's arms. A chill unlike anything you've ever felt pulses through you. Danny will be in the media spotlight, but after a few days, life returns to normal. Until it doesn't. A few months later, a family court judge unexpectedly asks Danny if he would like to adopt the baby. He's caught off guard, but says, 'Yes.' When he tells you, you say, 'No.' You're not ready. You're scared. You don't feel worthy. Fear takes over and makes you resist. You say mean and hurtful things to the man you love. You don't want your life to change. You spend countless hours analyzing how a baby will impact every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Objectivity betrays you. The questions pile up: What does it mean to be a parent? What would it be like to have a baby be a part of everything we do? Who would we become? As gay dads, what kind of obstacles would we face? Do we have the patience, tenderness, and consistency? Who are we to believe we could be this miracle baby's parents? What if we mess up? What if he tugs at my pant leg one day and asks something I can't answer? What if I give him the wrong answer? You are afraid of everything — being imperfect, getting too close, and the heartbreak of one day letting him go. Bottom line: you are petrified of loving so deeply and completely. You believe the baby deserves more, and you doubt you can give him the life he needs. But you won't have a choice. A force greater than you is at work. It wants you to become a father. To have a family. It sees a future you can't yet imagine — one filled with joy, abundance, meaning, and most of all, love. Your better angels will whisper to you. They'll show you glimpses of the future: playing catch on grassy fields, orange-sky picnics along the waterfront, Christmas mornings, makeshift blanket forts, hide-and-seek, and bedtime stories. They'll challenge you: Do you know how many people would give anything to trade places with you?This baby is a gift. He's the best thing that's happened in your life. You don't know it yet, but trust us, you will. All you have to do is let go. Surrender your resistance. Accept the gift. When a social worker arranges a visit with the baby, Danny holds him and flashes the biggest, widest smile you've ever seen. It's beautiful. Graceful. Miraculous. You will see that expression again and again in the years to come when the boy he's holding falls asleep on your shoulders or calls you 'Dada' or 'Papa' for the first time or holds your hands while walking down the street or finger-paints a portrait of your family or sings himself to sleep in the back seat of the car or learns how to ride a bike, throw a ball, play the violin, dance on stage or teases you about going bald. Then it will be your turn. You hold him. He squeezes your finger and stares into your eyes. In that moment, with all the innocence, promise, and hope he carries, a wave washes over you — peaceful, warm, overwhelming. The feeling alters your chemistry. The boy in your arms disarms you. He is the reason to abandon logic, relinquish control, and stop needing everything to make sense. You will learn that in this wonderfully unpredictable human experience, sometimes everything happens for a reason, and sometimes everything happens in spite of reason. You finally understand why Danny said, 'Yes.' It had already happened for him the night they found each other. He had fallen in love and inextricably bonded during those sacred, uninterrupted minutes they shared alone — before the police arrived, before the news crews arrived, before you arrived. How could you have been so wrong? There was nothing to fear. You feel brave. Excited. Ready to embrace what's next. The future — your lives as a family, Papa, Daddy, and son — will unfold in mysterious, glorious ways. On your first Father's Day, you will be stunned by all the well wishes. Your mom will gift you and Danny matching T-shirts embroidered with '#1 Papa' and '#1 Daddy.' You'll think they're corny and wear them once, but you'll keep them forever. Every Father's Day that follows, you'll reflect and marvel at the fact that you get to be called one. Fatherhood will surprise and challenge you. Some days, you'll feel like giving up. But you won't. You'll rise to meet each moment with an open heart, with tenderness, and with love. Being a father will become the core of your identity and fill you with purpose. You and Danny will show your son the world — and he will expand yours. Every day, you'll pinch yourselves in awe, disbelief, and gratitude. And above all, you'll learn the true meaning of unconditional love. Dear Danny, Something extraordinary is about to happen that will change your life forever. On the night of Aug. 28, 2000, you find a baby boy wrapped up in a bundle, lying on the dirty floor of a subway station. You don't know it then, but that moment sets in motion a fate greater than anything you could have imagined. That night, you become a father. It almost doesn't happen. You could have kept walking, but something makes you stop — makes you look back. That one moment of hesitation becomes the beginning of everything. When you were 18, you filled out your senior memory book. In response to the question, 'Where do you see yourself in 10 years?' you wrote, 'Married with children.' Even as you wrote it, you knew it felt out of reach. You were gay, closeted, living in Texas, and trying to imagine a future that seemed impossible. But something inside you — quiet, persistent — never let go of the desire to be a father. You've always struggled with small decisions — what to eat, what to wear — but when it comes to life-changing choices, your clarity has never wavered. So in December 2000, when the judge asks if you want to adopt the baby, you barely pause before saying, 'Yes.' In your heart, you already know. This child is a gift — and you know gifts like this don't come twice. You believe in the love you have to give. You believe this was meant to be. You don't think about how this would reshape your life, not really. You don't map out the years ahead or imagine the complexities. But you also don't feel lost. Somehow, this moment — unexpected and impossible — feels like finding the exact place you were meant to be. Your boyfriend Pete isn't sure about becoming a parent, but you want to do this with him. His hesitation will shake you — leave you feeling alone at first. But you remain steadfast. You believe the two of you have what it takes to raise a child or will figure it out. You aren't perfect, but you are enough. You have love — and that is your starting point. Holding your son for the first time, you feel something expand in you — a love so full it feels like your heart might burst. Each time he falls asleep on your chest or laughs with delight, you're amazed at the depth of your love. You also don't yet know the wonder of seeing the world through his eyes. The firsts — first words, first steps, first questions — will fill you with awe. His joy will become yours. His curiosity, your compass. These small moments will become the greatest gifts you didn't even know to wish for. And every time you think back to that night — the one where you looked back — you'll be grateful, because in that moment, everything changed. You found your son and became a father. And with Pete, the three of you became a family. On this Father's Day, we hope our story serves as a strong reminder that not all families form in the same way, and that love is what defines them. Foster and adoptive families still face many challenges today. For those interested in creating change on the ground, organizations like Second Nurture help transform the experience of fostering from one of isolation to one of belonging and shared responsibility through community-based circles of support. To support Second Nurture or join its network of volunteers, experts, and peers, visit To watch Second Nurture's new short film, '18 MONTHS,' based on our family's incredible origin story, visit Pete Mercurio is a writer, husband, and dad. He is the author of 'There,' a memoir, and 'Our Subway Baby,' a children's picture book. Pete enjoys hiking and exploring the National Parks. He has played on the same softball team, the Rookies, for over 25 years and was recently inducted into the Big Apple Softball League Hall of Fame. He lives in New York City with his husband Danny. You can find more information about him at Danny Stewart is a social worker currently serving as director of operations & finance at Safe Horizon Streetwork Project, a program serving homeless and unstably housed youth and young adults. He is an adjunct instructor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Danny was named a 2025 Pride Trailblazer, LGBTQ+ New Yorkers fighting for equality and inclusion, by City & State New York. Do you have a compelling personal story you'd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we're looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@ My Dad's Life Fell Apart. When He Died, I Logged On To His Email And Made A Shocking Discovery. My Dad Belittled My Work For Years. Then I Received An Email That Told A Very Different Story. I Suspect My Father Died With A Big Secret. I Regret Never Asking Him For The Truth.
National Post
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- National Post
New Film '18 MONTHS' Tells True Story of Baby Found in Subway Station 25 Years Ago, Celebrates Foster and Adoptive Families
Article content Beautifully crafted animated short from nonprofit Second Nurture follows family's incredible origin story, champions all paths to parenthood in leadup to Father's Day Article content NEW YORK — Danny Stewart couldn't have imagined how finding a newborn in a New York City subway station — and the media circus that followed — would forever change him and his partner, Pete Mercurio. Now, 25 years later, and in time for Father's Day, the couple's extraordinary journey to parenthood has been brought to life in ' 18 MONTHS,' the animated short from nonprofit Second Nurture that celebrates all paths to family and challenges adoption stigma. Article content Article content '18 MONTHS' unravels as a metaphorical pregnancy, with the monumental personal, societal, and legal hurdles Stewart and Mercurio faced in adopting their now almost-25-year-old son, Kevin, reimagined to mirror the milestones of gestation. Set to Christina Perri's stirring love song A Thousand Years — rerecorded as an emblematic duet that creates a thread between the biological and adoptive storylines, the stop-motion film features backgrounds meticulously crafted from actual pages of old pregnancy books, hand-sculpted puppets, 2D animation, CGI, and shadow projections. The credits include archival news footage and family photos. Article content ''18 MONTHS' is more than just our story — it's a challenge to the way the world views adoption,' said Stewart, a social worker and Second Nurture board member. 'Every family's journey is unique,' added Mercurio, his husband of 13 years. 'And love is what makes a family.' Article content 'Like Kevin, all children deserve loving homes and a deep sense of belonging,' said Susan Silverman, Second Nurture's Founder and Executive Director. 'We hope '18 MONTHS' inspires more people to support foster and adoptive families in every way they can.' Article content Tearing Up Outdated Family Archetypes (and Books) Article content Created by Klick Health and animated by Zombie Studio, with music by Jamute, the six-minute film seeks to ignite broader conversations around adoption, especially for LGBTQ+ families still facing outdated perceptions and legal barriers. Article content Andrea Bistany, Klick Health Group Creative Director said, 'The art direction in '18 MONTHS' literally illustrates how outdated the 'traditional' family ideal is. By tearing up and repurposing pregnancy books, like Eastman's Expectant Motherhood, that date back to the 1950s, we're conveying a more inclusive, modern definition of family.' Film co-creator and Group Creative Director Amy Fortunato added, 'There is a lingering belief that biological families are the only 'real' families, so the more we challenge this, the more we empower families to form in all their beautiful, varied forms. Pete and Danny's story is an incredible example of how there is no wrong way to build a family. By partnering with Second Nurture on '18 MONTHS,' we hope to spark stigma-free conversations about adoption and support foster and adoptive families across the country.' Article content Article content Article content
