An Arizona police officer has given a young girl a new chance at life after meeting her while on duty.
Kingman police Lt Brian Zach and his wife officially adopted 4-year-old Kaila less than three years after rescuing her from an abusive home.
Zach first met Kaila when he was called to check on a home while on night duty in March 2018.
The young girl had suffered multiple injuries and needed to be hospitalised.
Despite her situation, Zach said Kaila was "energetic" and "a survivor" when he described their first meeting in an article he wrote for Newsweek.
"Here was this little two-year-old girl that had suffered abuse and needed to be loved," Zach said.
"You wouldn't have known from looking at her what she had been through."
The officer took Kaila to the Kingman police department while waiting for the Department of Child Safety to respond.
For five hours, Zach and Kaila snacked, coloured, and drew things, watching the movie Wreck-It Ralph together before Kaila went to the hospital for a check-up.
Zach went home to tell his wife, with whom he shares two teenage children, about how we "would have loved" to help Kaila.
The next day, child protective services called Zach and said they couldn't find another home for Kaila immediately - so Zach and his wife took her in.
In the beginning, Kaila didn't talk very much. She knew "no", "milk" and "choccy" but by the second day she was calling Zach's wife "mum".
Kaila called Zach "guy" to begin with, but after going to daycare and observing her peers, she would point and tell people: "That's my dad!"
The official adoption on August 18 - once everything was finalised - was "the biggest relief" for Zach and his family. The couple plan to renew their foster license with the aim of helping more children.
