Everything about this story is so satisfying, that if I read it in a lesser source I would be doubting it.
The person finding the baby was the person who eventually adopted him. The judge asking the guy to adopt the baby was the same judge that performed the wedding of the couple doing the adoption. Just so many great details.
There is an excellent children’s book about their story. It’s hard to read to my kids without getting teary, tbh.
https://www.petermercurio.com/our-subway-baby/
Many of us could easily imagine, once chance puts us in the position of the person who can’t walk past, taking a concerned interest in the outcome and, realising that the baby would go into the care system, stepping up and doing the massive step of talking it upon ourselves to provide that home?
Imagine, perhaps. Stepping up and doing it, that's more difficult. Then consider this scenario: two young men taking in a child when they did not have financial or social security. I'm not sure what the situation was like for gay men in NYC at the time, but it would be years until they could legally marry. Heck, they weren't even living together at the time. That takes a whole lot of bravery.
(I will acknowledge that it is not impossible to imagine. I have known people who have adopted the children of strangers after reporting their family for abuse.)
> I have known people who have adopted the children of strangers after reporting their family for abuse.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers
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God bless the woman who felt they had no other choice & give them help rather than punishment. We will never know the circumstances but we can obviously assume they weren't very much better than the baby's to have done this. Nobody doing something like this out of disdain for the child would have carried it to delivery (regardless of their stance on abortion).
At least in NY State, babies up to 30 days old can be left for care by the state.
> New York State's Abandoned Infant Protection Act allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution, as long as the baby is abandoned in a safe manner.
> A parent is not guilty of a crime if the infant is left with an appropriate person or in a suitable location and the parent promptly notifies an appropriate person of the infant's location. A hospital or a staffed police or fire station are examples of safe and suitable choices.
> A person leaving an infant under this law is not required to give his or her name.
I think every state has a similar type of safe haven law these days. This one for NY first came out the same summer as the story in the article starts. This and similar stories were making a lot of news around the time and people were really interested in trying to help. It doesn't make things perfect, there are e.g. still occasional situations where a person isn't in their own control or in a sane state, but these kinds of changes did help thousands of cases since.
I think a lot of school sex ed programs/health classes have started teaching this to kids as well. Not all of course, as with most things sex ed.
Had you considered this was not in the mother’s control, was not her choice, and/or that this was a better outcome for the child and she knew that?
He was not left in a bin or dumpster. This is not an ideal way to give up a baby for adoption, but don’t assume he was unwanted, or unloved: you don’t know - or seem able to imagine - the full story.
Personally I would be more worried that the woman that had just given birth received the appropriate medical attention and help with whatever circumstances made her feel that she had to abandon her child.
In response to a heartwarming story you did not read, you made an account on this website to advocate for harshly punishing a child or young woman acting under extreme duress for a crime committed 26 years ago?
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Quite often in these cases the mother is an abused minor themselves.
What are those safe ways?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_hatch
In the US anyway there are places you can drop off a child "no questions asked". Often fire departments or (I think?) police stations. It's to prevent this exact thing.
Where does it say the baby was in a dumpster or bin?