Being pregnant is a time in a woman’s life when she treats her body with utmost care, considering she is sharing it with an innocent being.
For some though, this isn’t always the easiest task.
When Police Officer Ryan Holets was on duty one day he came across a situation that would change his life forever. The Albuquerque officer and father of four was wearing a body cam when he approached a homeless couple, sitting in the grass behind a convenience store. In a moment of perfect timing, the couple was about to inject heroin just as Ryan was about to approach them.
Ryan immediately scolded the girl, who was obviously pregnant…
“You’re going to kill your baby.”
It was in that moment that the young woman, by the name of Crystal, broke down in tears and shared her story…
“You have no idea how hard this is,” Crystal told him. “I know what a horrible person I am and what a horrible situation I’m in.”
Crystal went on to share that she had been struggling with heroin addiction since she was a teenager and she’d been homeless for the past two years. She had tried to quit several times but she would relapse after the point of detox when she would lose her battle.
She went on the share that she was desperate to find someone to adopt her baby and in that moment, Ryan’s role transitioned from law enforcement to being a human with compassion.
Ryan was instantly filled with sadness, as he had seen this situation so many times before. It didn’t take long for him to ask Crystal if he could adopt the baby.
“I just felt God telling me, ‘Tell her that you will do it because you can,'” said Ryan, who hadn’t even cleared the decision with his wife. Luckily it didn’t take long for his wife Rebecca to get on board and she was instantly willing to adopt and raise the child. Apparently, they had been thinking about adopting in the future anyway, so this just set things in motion as if it was meant to be.
Just three weeks later, Crystal gave birth to the baby girl, who Ryan and Rebecca named “Hope,” a fitting name given the situation.
As to be expected, Hope was born addicted to drugs and while she went through withdrawal and detox, she is now in stable condition.
Rebecca and Ryan plan on telling Hope about her birth story one day and they have opened up their hearts and would like to include her biological mother, Crystal in their lives.
This was definitely an encounter that happened for a reason.
“There need to be more people like Ryan and his wife and their family in this world,” Crystal said.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) cases has tripled between 1999 and 2013.
Hope is one lucky baby to have landed in the hands of a responsible and caring police officer and his wife.