Ryan Holets was only going to respond to a call about a possible robbery behind a store in Albuquerque.
There he found Crystal Champ, 35, injecting heroin alongside her partner. Champ had been living in a tent by the highway for more than two years, and she was eight months pregnant. Ryan did not arrest her. He took out his phone, showed her a photo of his wife and four children, and asked her a question neither of them would forget: would she allow him to adopt her baby?
Hope was born on October 12, 2017, with neonatal abstinence syndrome and spent her first days detoxing. Rebecca, Ryan’s wife, did not hesitate for a second to say yes. Crystal said goodbye to her daughter at the hospital with just one request: that they take care of her. Months later, the president of the United States himself told this story before Congress.
