Longest-waiting child in Arkansas foster care system adopted after 15 years

Adoption finalized for longest waiting child in foster care

Cozy, age 19, has been in foster care waiting to find a family for nearly 15 years.

Longest-waiting child in Arkansas foster care system adopted after 15 years

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) – After nearly 15 years of being in the foster care system, 19-year-old Cozy was embraced by his new mom and dad, Tim and Anna Dietrich, on Monday. Anna Dietrich met Cozy through her job at Project Zero, a nonprofit that connects children in foster care to a permanent, loving home. "Honestly, the Lord made it clear that we were supposed to all-out adopt him. We're supposed to give him our name, give him our family, and g…

‘This is what we all work for’: Longest term foster child in Arkansas adopted

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…

Adoption ends 19-year-old’s 15-year wait in Arkansas’ foster care system

After 15 years, a boy who was once the longest-waiting child in Arkansas' foster care system has been adopted.