Latest news with #SecondNurture
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.,'
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
Business Wire
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Wire
New Film '18 MONTHS' Tells True Story of Baby Found in Subway Station 25 Years Ago, Celebrates Foster and Adoptive Families
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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. '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. ''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." '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.' Tearing Up Outdated Family Archetypes (and Books) 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. 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.' To watch '18 MONTHS' and support Second Nurture, visit Second Nurture partners with local communities to weave the love and skills of their members into a real-time support and nurturance for foster families in their city, transforming the experience of fostering from one of isolation and difficulty to a deeply relational endeavor of belonging and shared responsibility.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
Building Communities Of Support For Foster Families
On a given day, 400,000 children in the U.S. are living in foster care, with more than 100,000 children awaiting permanent homes. And while about a one-third of American adults consider fostering, most don't—deterred by a broken system that offers little support to parents. Enter Susan Silverman and Second Nurture. Working with communities, mostly synagogues, she transforms fostering from an experience of isolation to one of belonging and shared responsibility, making the journey less daunting and creating ways for everyone to help. Her philosophy: "All of our children are all of our children." Ashoka's Danielle Goldstone caught up with Susan to learn more. Danielle Goldstone: Let's start at the beginning. How did you start thinking of this idea? Susan Silverman Second Nurture Susan Silverman: It was really about two emotional pulls. One was fostering—I grew up in a family that fostered, so it was up close and personal as I was a foster sister. The other was being a rabbi and understanding the power of community. What helped crystallize this was an experience in Israel around 2015 when the government was trying to deport asylum seekers. Some colleagues and I created a program asking fellow Israelis to sign up to hide families in their homes. Within a week, we had 2,000 families volunteering. It showed me the power of a household, the power of family and community. I realized that this could work for any vulnerable population, melding those two things—family and community. If you think about family values in an expansive and loving way, it's really powerful. Goldstone: So you started to apply this insight to foster care. Silverman: Yes. Initially, we planned to partner with synagogues and churches to encourage them to foster, but that was a big lift. But we discovered people coming to our cohort meetings were mostly already fostering. We learned there's a 30-50% drop-off rate of foster families within a year, so we shifted focus. Now we support existing foster families so they can succeed with help from their Second Nurture 'host community.' Since returning to in-person meetings after Covid, none of our families has stopped fostering. Goldstone: Remarkable. What kind of support do you offer? Silverman: Practical support. We reach out to the community members saying, "We need a tutor, we need this or that," and people volunteer. So many people want to support foster kids and families, but it feels overwhelming and amorphous. But when there's something specific they can do, they step up. Goldstone: Why are faith communities good partners? Silverman: They're already gathering with a sense of purpose and values. No community is like, "Oh, screw the orphan." Most, at least in theory, want to help. Our partners, mostly synagogues, are already engaged with issues like homelessness, mass incarceration, drug abuse, human trafficking—and the foster experience is the number one feeder into all those problems. If you went to a soup kitchen and asked how many people were raised in foster care to any extent, maybe 80% would raise their hands. That's because when you 'age out' of foster care at 18 or 21 with no safety net, no one to say "come live at home and save money," you're vulnerable. If foster families are successful—whether through adoption or helping biological families get back on their feet—children don't age out without support. Goldstone: Are all your host communities faith communities? Silverman: Currently, yes. But we're just starting to work with an LGBTQ center. Right now, they're referring people our way, but my hope is they'll become a host community formally because they have many foster and adoptive families and a strong centralized community. Goldstone: What needs to be in place in a host community for Second Nurture to agree to partner? Silverman: Well, our approach has evolved. Initially, we approached synagogues saying, 'We will provide lots of stuff.' Now we are more open source, more an AA kind of model where they have to find the people from the community to run the program. Our most successful community started from its members reaching out to me saying, 'Hey, we heard about Second Nurture. We want to do it in our synagogue.' Goldstone: How does your approach affect foster kids and parents and host communities? Silverman: For the kids, the most magical part is being in a space where they don't have to explain their lives—why they're new to a family or why they have other parents they visit. They just get to be themselves. As for foster families, Second Nurture creates a sense of belonging. They're often the only foster family in their neighborhood or school. Research by iFoster found that a sense of belonging is crucial. During our community meetings, practical solutions emerge organically. When someone mentions a challenge, others often have solutions. We've also partnered with Change Reaction for one-time financial assistance—like when someone is about to lose their car insurance. We partner with A Home Within for free therapy for foster kids so families. We bring in volunteer massage therapists, organize parents' nights out with childcare and restaurant gift certificates. The nice thing is parents choose to go to dinner together. For faith communities, participating is empowering and builds multigenerational connections. You'll see 80-year-old women and teenagers playing with the kids. One rabbi said it's his favorite part of being a rabbi, that Sunday every month when the cohort gets together. For Jewish communities facing rising antisemitism, there's been an unintended positive outcome—a beautiful merging of worlds. Goldstone: And your bigger goal is integrating into the foster care system as a whole, no? Tell us more. Silverman: That's right. If this approach could be taken up by the system overall, that would be best—making it less siloed and incorporating communities throughout the U.S. We work closely with child services in LA and Boston. I'd love to grow this outward, put ourselves out of business if the system could take it over with the same love and support. Goldstone: Susan, your work draws out the power of relationships, which feels so hard in our digital lives. How do you create strong relationships? Silverman: I wish we could take credit for that but it just happens. It's not a genius idea, right? It's really very basic. These communities exist. People need community, peanut butter and chocolate, it just works. So, I feel like our job is to convene, to support. You know, a teenager was just doing his school volunteer hours with us and then planned to be done when one of the foster kids said, 'I'll see you next month, right?' He said, 'Yeah, you'll see me next month,' and he hasn't stopped volunteering. Because there's a little kid saying to him, I like you and I want to see you next time. The teen responded to that love, that connection. In a sense, there's only one thing we need to do. We need to respond. Susan Silverman, an Ashoka Fellow, is the founder of Second Nurture that operates in the U.S. and Israel. Danielle Goldstone, an Ashoka interviewer, is the founder of innoFaith. This interview was condensed for length and clarity by Ashoka.
