Cozy Dietrich (center) with his adoptive parents Anna and Tim Dietrich after his adoption hearing in Little Rock on Aug. 25, 2025. (Photo by Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate)
Even the judge was smiling by the end of Cozy Dietrich’s adoption hearing.
Cozy had been in foster care longer than any other person in Arkansas’ foster system — until Monday morning, when Anna and Tim Dietrich of Little Rock adopted the nonverbal 19-year-old. He took his new family’s last name.
An atmosphere of joy dominated the small Pulaski County Circuit Court hearing room where his adoption was finalized. When Circuit Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning brought the hearing to a close, the celebration started. The lights dimmed, and court staff — Manning included — pulled out flashing, multi-colored lights as Justin Timberlake’s “Don’t Stop the Feeling” played over the courtroom’s speakers and the standing-room-only audience clapped and cheered.
For many, the celebration was warranted. Cozy entered foster care in October 2010, and has been available for adoption since October 2011, according to a Department of Human Services spokesperson. In all, Cozy spent nearly 15 years in Arkansas’ foster system.
Anna Dietrich said she and her husband had always been open to adopting, but had been waiting for the right person. Anna Dietrich has long worked within the state’s foster system as a logistics coordinator for Project Zero, an Arkansas nonprofit dedicated to placing every child in a loving, permanent home.
Cozy’s disabilities meant having a family “with understanding, patience, and love would be instrumental in supporting” him, according to his Project Zero Heart Gallery page. The Heart Gallery has profiles of adoptable children in Arkansas to help match them with adoptive families.
“To say yes to one was to say no to others,” Anna Dietrich said. “The Lord was going to have to make it clear who was ours. He’s just made it abundantly clear.”
Cozy is their first child.
The Dietrichs were clearly thrilled about the adoption. Anna could be seen beaming at her new son as he ate peanut butter crackers and communicated via hand signals with a companion in the front row of the small gallery before the adoption hearing started.
Newly-confirmed Department of Human Services Secretary Janet Mann also attended and choked up after the hearing when congratulating the Dietrich family.
“This is what we all work for,” she said. “This is the inspirational example of how every child deserves a family.”
Not every foster child goes up for adoption. According to Tiffany Wright, the director of DHS’ Division of Child and Family Services, the vast majority that enter the foster system return to their families, but roughly 200 are currently waiting for adoptive families.
In fiscal year 2023, the most recent year with available data, over 36,000 children nationwide remained in foster care despite being available for adoption, according to the National Council for Adoption. Of the more than 184,000 children who exited the nation’s foster care systems that year, 27% were adopted.
“Youth who enter care often endure trauma or have medical conditions that make finding a family hard, but we will never give up. We work to identify an appropriate family that can provide for a child in the long term. That’s what happened in today’s case,” Wright said.
Cozy’s adoption was also significant due to who his adoptive parents were.
“Anna has championed and featured children in the Heart Gallery, and works hard to find adoptive families for them,” Wright said. “There are countless children living happy lives with adoptive families across our state because of the work of Anna and Project Zero.”
Adopting a child isn’t as straightforward as filling out a form, Wright said. It’s a long process that involves home inspections, information sharing with interested families and transitional visits. Even when a suitable family is identified, adoptees also have to have lived with them for a certain period of time before the adoption can be finalized.
“You have to be in an adoptive home for six months, that’s typically the trigger that you can finalize the adoption,” Wright said.
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