Workaround for mod_fastcgi killing processes on SIGUSR1?

I have a PHP-under mod_fastcgi setup that's working quite nicely, except for one well-known quirk; fcgi-pm SIGTERMs the PHP processes when the Apache tree is being SIGUSR1d for a graceful reload. In result, people waiting for script results get a 5xx response.

Mod_fcgid, from what I know still assumes that every process it spawns can handle only one request at a time and doesn't pipeline requests. That, of course, doesn't work well with an php+apc setup, where fastcgi/fcgid spawns one subprocess, which in turn has its own children.

I don't really understand how php-fpm fits into the whole; after all, it still communicates with Apache using modfastcgi or modfcgid, doesn't it? Besides, I'd honestly prefer something that works without having to compile and maintain own versions of software, be it fpm-patched php or a non-ancient nginx (does its fastcgi module handle that situation better?).

Any hints?