Girl officially becomes ‘part of a family’

Baldwin residents ready to celebrate this Thanksgiving with an adoption

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Life in the Steward home is anything but dull. With six children, three dogs and four birds, Michelle Kuper Steward and her husband, Phesadgra, known as “Skater,” have their hands full.

But this Thanksgiving, the Baldwin family, which includes Michelle’s and Skater’s five sons, has another reason to give thanks. As of Monday, little Jade Steward, 5, officially became part of the family.

Jade joined the Stewards as a foster child shortly after she was born. She was only meant to stay for a weekend.

The Stewards, who had previously fostered a baby for a year, had just returned that child to her family. Michelle was four months pregnant with her youngest son, Logan. Then they got the call about Jade.

“It was a Friday,” Michelle recalled. “I took the boys to the pool,” when the call came. “They said it was just for the weekend.”

Michelle, a project manager at Citibank, called her mother-in-law, who agreed to help out with child-care duties. Jade came — and never left.

Occasionally the little girl sees her birth father, but Michelle doesn’t believe she understands much about the circumstances of her birth. “She knows we’re going to see her father,” Michelle said. “But as far as she’s concerned, we’re her family.”

And it was Jade’s new family members who realized there was a little something different about their baby girl. Within a year after she joined them, Michelle recalled, “I knew that something was going on.” Baby Jade couldn’t speak and was having difficulty with skills like grasping a crayon.

Although she doesn’t have a specific diagnosis, she is a special-needs child, what her mother delicately calls “a handful.” But in the same breath, Michelle adds, “But we have five boys.”

As soon as the Stewards realized that Jade needed extra help, Michelle started calling agencies ranging from the Nassau County Department of Social Services to private schools. After some home tutoring, Jade was enrolled in an early-intervention program.

The Stewards, who are in their 40s, contacted 15 to 20 schools before finding one, on the North Shore, that fit Jade’s needs. She spent two years in preschool before starting public school in Baldwin. Now she is in a special-needs class where she’s the only girl, just like at home.

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