An Arizona cop adopted a little girl two and a half years after he saved her from abuse while he was on duty.
Lieutenant Brian Zach was working the night shift in March of 2018 when he received a call about Kaila, a 2-year-old girl with severe injuries. It was the third time abuse against the girl had been reported.
Zach took Kaila back to the station, where they watched Wreck-It Ralph and bonded. The officer, who has two other children, decided he would tell his wife that he wanted to take the girl in.
“I [came home and] told my wife about this adorable little girl that I met, and I just wanted to bring her home,” he told PEOPLE.
After being removed from her home by child protective services because of the abuse, the Zach family offered to take her in.
“We gave her love and care and not knowing when she would go back — if at all. And we just took each day at a time,” he said to ABC7.
The time stretched on, and eventually, the court decided that Kaila should not be returned to her biological parents. This August, the Zach family chose to give Kaila a permanent home, and they officially adopted her into their family.
“The best thing to come out of 2020 is the fact that we gained an official member of our family,” Zach said of the adoption. “That was my Christmas present.”
