Nurture (4 May 1994)

Stone is reluctantly forced to pursue criminal charges against a woman who kidnapped a young girl and took her away from an abusive foster home, even though he thinks she should receive psychiatric care instead.

Director:

Jace Alexander

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Paris Qualles,

Stars:

Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, S. Epatha Merkerson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Chris Noth	...	Detective Mike Logan
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Michael Moriarty	...	Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone
Jill Hennessy	...	A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
Steven Hill	...	D.A. Adam Schiff
Carolyn McCormick	...	Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
Christine Baranski	...	Rose Siegal
Stephi Lineburg	...	Wendy Sylvester
Lisa Eichhorn	...	Arnette Fenady
Camryn Manheim	...	Beatrice Hines
Bruce MacVittie	...	Brian Sprague
Jesse Moore	...	Daniel Freeman
Zelda Harris	...	Janel Decker
Ann McDonough	...	Peggy Sylvester

Storyline

Detectives Briscoe and Logan pull out all of the stops when 10 year-old Wendy Sylvester's school friend complains that she hadn't seen her for two days. She was a ward of the State but her foster mother treated the girl like a servant and hadn't bothered calling the police believing she would return at some point. Her mother is an alcoholic and also hadn't seen her. A diary leads the police to believe that she may have been close to one of her teachers and the school confirms that a volunteer, Annette Fennady, may be that person. Fennady says she hasn't seen Wendy for some time but Logan's thinks she lying. After they find the girl in a hidden bedroom in the basement she is charged but her defense is that she was actually protecting the girl.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode was originally written to have the girl sexually abused by a male kidnapper. However, shortly before shooting was to have begun NBC felt uncomfortable with the storyline and asked for it to be changed. The writers quickly rewrote it so that the kidnapper was a female who believed she had the best interests of the child at heart. All the locations that had been set up for the original script were used in the episode.

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Connections

References Mary Poppins (1964)

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