When Santa Rosa police officer Jesse Whitten first struck up a friendship a homeless woman living on the streets in his community, he had no idea the two would become friends.
And he certainly didn’t know he’d end up adopting her baby.
The California police officer told local channel KTVU that while homeless people are an unfortunately all-too-common sight in California, he developed a special relationship with this one for a pretty uncommon reason.
“It’s not every day you see someone who’s homeless and pregnant,” he told the TV station.
Whitten, who had three daughters himself, said the bond started as he began driving the woman to various shelters and detox centers, trying unsuccessfully to help her break her addiction to drugs. But the greatest turn came when he took his wife, Ashley, on a ride-along one August evening. The Miami Herald reports:
It started when Jesse took his wife Ashley Whitten on a patrol one night in August, CBS News reported, and the homeless woman asked Ashley to feel her stomach.
“I mentioned, ‘Oh, you are pregnant,’” Ashley reportedly told CBS, “and she said, ‘Oh yeah,’ and placed my hand on her womb.”
It was a special moment, she said, even if she didn’t realize just how important it was at the time.
“I got to feel our daughter — who I didn’t know would be our daughter — in the womb,” Ashley said, according to KTVU.
Six months later, Whitten and his wife got a call on Valentines Day from a local hospital saying the woman had just given birth to a baby girl, and was asking if the Whittens would be willing to take her.
"We were called by the East Sonoma County saying that 'Hey, do you know who this woman is? She's just had a baby and she's asked for you guys to be emergency placement for this child," Witten told Good Morning America.
They were.
Harlow Masie Whitten was treated for withdrawal symptoms from in-utero drug exposure, but is now six months old, healthy, happy and loved. The Whittens formally adopted Harlow earlier this month.