It started as a routine call — Officer Ryan Holet of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was responding to reports of a possible burglary at a convenience store. It was there he found Crystal Champ and her companion, Tom Key, sitting against a concrete wall outside the store. They were getting ready to shoot heroin into their arms, in broad daylight.
Officer Holet turned his body camera on and began talking with the two. It was then that he noticed that Crystal was very pregnant. He asked her about how far along she was, and proceeded to plead with her to stop using drugs. On the footage from his camera, the officer can be heard saying, “Why are you doing this to your baby? You’re gonna kill your baby.” His words brought her to tears, as she told him she was seven or eight months along, and revealed to him she’d been hoping someone would adopt her baby.
“It’s not every day I see a sight like that — and it just made me really sad,” Holet, who is married and has four children — the youngest merely 10 months old — says of the encounter.
He continued, “I’ve gotten tired of seeing so many situations where I want to help, but can’t. And In that moment, I realized that I had a chance to help.” “I just felt God telling me, ‘Tell her that you will do it. Because, you can. You can,'” Holet says as he realized she was really hoping for an adoption.
Though he hadn’t consulted his wife, Officer Holet offered to adopt the baby right then and there. Knowing she’d be on the same page — they’d been dreaming of adopting a baby in a year or two anyway — he got into his squad car and drove straight to his wife, Rebecca, to tell her what he’d told Champ; they were adopting this child. She was surprised, but fully on-board with the plan.
Three weeks after their providential meeting, Crystal Champ gave birth, and Ryan and Rebecca Holets adopted their baby girl. They were able to be at the hospital when she was born, and stayed with her as the newborn endured detoxification and methadone treatments. They’ve since taken their beautiful baby girl home, and she’s doing well — gaining weight and growing properly.
Officer Holet told CNN in an interview: “I was led by God to take the chance. God brought us all together. I really don’t have any other way to explain it.”
Certainly, this is a very special child, who has a bright future and has been given a second chance at life. Though Crystal is still using drugs, she and the Holets have stayed in contact — he gave her a tablet to share photos of the baby with. The baby’s name? A perfectly fitting and optimistic one: Baby Hope.
And today we celebrate...