On October 12th Ryan and Rebecca Holet got to hold their adopted daughter for the first time. It was an emotional scene as Crystal Champ, the child’s birth mother, said goodbye.
Ryan is a police officer in Albuquerque. He first offered to adopt her baby when he came across Crystal shooting up heroin while she was pregnant. He and his wife planned to adopt once their youngest child was a bit older, but felt like the situation and timing were right now.
Crystal, 25, was about eight months pregnant when Ryan received a call about a possible theft at a convenience store. He went to check it out, and as he was leaving he saw a couple sitting against a cement wall shooting up heroin in the middle of the day. As he approached the couple he saw her protruding belly.
Ryan immediately began to scold Crystal for the harm she was doing to her unborn baby. She got very emotional. “I was like how dare you judge me. You have no idea how hard this is,” Champ later said. “I know what a horrible person I am and what a horrible situation I am in.” She said that she was aware but she couldn’t stop. She hoped someone would adopt her baby. Upon hearing her words, Ryan’s attitude changed. Crystal recalls, “He became a human instead of a police officer.” He didn’t charge the couple with drug possession, but instead offered to adopt the baby.
Crystal lives on the streets and spends about $50 a day on her drug use. She has failed multiple attempts to get clean. She has been addicted to heroin and crystal meth since she was a teenager. Her birth daughter, aptly named Hope, had to experience detox, withdrawals, and methadone treatment. Hope is doing well but faces the possibility of developmental delays. The Holets say whatever challenges she has to endure, they will get through them together.
