The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Second Nurture's '18 Months' retells adoption as pregnancy — D&AD 2026 Yellow Pencil
A six-minute stop-motion film retells how two men adopted a baby found in a NYC subway, mirroring pregnancy stages — 29 awards including a D&AD Yellow Pencil.
Second Nurture · Klick Health
What it had to solve
Second Nurture supports foster and adoptive families, but adoption still carries stigma, especially for LGBTQ+ families. The nonprofit needed a film that made an 'untraditional' family story feel universal, launching in time for Father's Day 2025.
How it works
In August 2000, Danny Stewart found a newborn abandoned in a New York City subway station. With his partner Pete Mercurio, he spent the next 18 months fighting to legally adopt the boy, Kevin. Twenty-five years later, nonprofit Second Nurture turned that story into '18 Months', a six-minute stop-motion film released for Father's Day 2025.
The film's structural idea gives it its power: the adoption journey is retold to mirror the milestones of a pregnancy. The legal, social and personal hurdles the couple faced are reimagined as stages of gestation — backgrounds were made from actual pages of 1950s pregnancy books, torn up and repurposed, with hand-sculpted puppets, 2D animation, CGI and shadow projections set to Christina Perri's 'A Thousand Years', rerecorded as a duet that links the biological and adoptive storylines.
Created by Klick Health, animated by Zombie Studio and scored by Jamute, the film aimed to spark stigma-free conversations about adoption, especially for LGBTQ+ families. It went on to win 29 awards — seven Clios, nine ADC Annual Cubes, six D&AD Pencils including a Yellow, five One Show Pencils and two Webbys — and Second Nurture was named 2026 Non-Profit Client of the Year at the ADC Annual Awards.
Why it lands
- The pregnancy metaphor makes an unfamiliar family structure legible to everyone, translating legal battles into emotional milestones.
- The torn pregnancy books carry the argument visually: the film literally repurposes the 'traditional family' manuals to build a new definition of family.
- A real, documented story gave the campaign credibility no invented drama could match.
- The craft — puppetry, shadow projection, a duet of a known love song — made a social message feel like art, which is why it swept design and film juries alike.
What it did
The film collected 29 award wins — seven Clios, nine ADC Annual Cubes, six D&AD Pencils including a Yellow, five One Show Pencils and two Webbys — and Second Nurture was named Non-Profit Client of the Year at the ADC Annual Awards 2026.
What you can take
Familiar structure carries unfamiliar stories: mapping an 18-month adoption fight onto pregnancy milestones makes a 'different' family feel universal — the craft does the persuading.
Since then
Released in June 2025, '18 Months' was available to watch at 18monthsfilm.com, with a making-of published by Zombie Studio. The film continued collecting recognition through Creative Week 2026, bringing its total to 48 wins, including the D&AD Yellow Pencil and ADC honors, and Second Nurture was named ADC Non-Profit Client of the Year. The campaign's stated aim was to change how society defines family and to encourage support for foster and adoptive families.
Sources
- New Film '18 MONTHS' Tells True Story of Baby Found in Subway Station 25 Years Ago, Celebrates Foster and Adoptive Families
- Klick Health's '18 Months' Continues to Strike Gold With 29 Wins Alone During Creative Week
- 18 MONTHS — Zombie Studio
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