{"id":8214,"date":"2025-07-08T09:32:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=8214"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:32:18","slug":"nycs-famous-subway-baby-is-turning-25-and-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=8214","title":{"rendered":"NYC\u2019s famous Subway Baby is turning 25 \u2014 and thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"

The subway baby is all grown up.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Their touching story is the subject of a new book, \u201cThere: We Found Our Family in a New York City Subway Station\u201d by Mercurio, and a short film, \u201c18 Months,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in New York can relate to something happening in a split second that could have sent their life in one direction or another,\u201d Mercurio told The Post of their story\u2019s enduring appeal.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Danny Stewart (left) and Peter Mercurio adopted a baby Stewart found abandoned in a subway station.
Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The family\u2019s story is the subject of a new animated short film, \u201c18 Months,\u201d 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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2019s legs appeared to move and he realized it was actually a newborn baby.<\/p>\n

He ran up the steps to call the police from a payphone \u2014 this was a time before cell phones were ubiquitous \u2014 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\u2019t forget him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not stop thinking about him,\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mercurio has just published a book about their family\u2019s unique origin story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, Stewart, a social worker, didn\u2019t initially think he\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

During the proceedings, things took an unexpected turn and the judge asked if Stewart was interested in adopting the baby. He was shocked \u2014 the judge knew nothing about him \u2014 but answered \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercurio wasn\u2019t initially so sure, but Stewart was adamant that he would be proceeding with or without him.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Stewart couldn\u2019t stop thinking about the baby he\u2019d found. When a judge asked if he was interested in adopting him, he jumped at the chance.
Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI knew that he was being motivated by fear,\u201d said Stewart. \u201c[Also,] I thought it was going to be a long process. So I was like, we\u2019re going to have time to figure this all out.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cI said something really snarky, which was \u2018Good luck being a single parent in New York City.\u2019 And it didn\u2019t faze him at all,\u201d Mercurio recalled.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Stewart (left) and Mercurio named their baby Kevin, in honor of a son Mercurio\u2019s parents had lost.
Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pair did one overnight visit with the baby, and Mercurio felt an \u201cinstant bond\u201d when he held the child.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything changed in that moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By Christmas, the baby was home with them. They named him Kevin, the moniker Mercurio\u2019s parents had planned to give a child they\u2019d lost in 1967.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old tears of grief now mixed with new tears of joy,\u201d Mercurio writes in the book of the moment he told his mom and dad about the name.<\/p>\n

The proud dads called Kevin \u201ca really easy kid to raise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The proud dads say Kevin has been an easy kid to raise.
Peter Mercurio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

They also asked the official \u2014 referred to in the book only as Judge Cooper \u2014 what she had seen in Stewart that day in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll babies need a connection with someone and I was that someone,\u201d he recalled her telling him.<\/p>\n

The wedding ends the book, but Kevin\u2019s story has continued \u2014 happily.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kevin, who is now living in Pittsburgh and working in website development, recently surprised his dads by coming to NYC for a screening of \u201c18 Months.\u201d
Courtesy of Danny Stewart and Pete Mercurio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s now based in Pittsburgh, working as a website developer and captaining his Ultimate Frisbee team.<\/p>\n

Mercurio described him as a \u201ccool cucumber\u201d but said Kevin made a point of telling him how much he liked the book and how proud of him he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all I need,\u201d Mercurio said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only review that matters to me.,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, \u201cThere: We Found Our Family in a New York […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-articles"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nNYC\u2019s famous Subway Baby is turning 25 \u2014 and thriving -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inhealthyzone.com\/?p=8214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NYC\u2019s famous Subway Baby is turning 25 \u2014 and thriving -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The subway baby is all grown up. 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