Leo Gillick
The foster system is a tough one, with too many kids and too few foster parents. It can sometimes leave a child, like 19-year-old Cozy, in the system for an unbelievable number of days waiting for foster parents.
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How long: Cozy was in the Arkansas foster care system for a total of 5,429 days. That means he was waiting for a foster family for almost 15 years. But now, his wait is finally over. Tim and Anna Dietrich have welcomed Cozy into their home, and he can finally begin a new life.
The pair decided that they didn’t just want to be carers for Cozy; they wanted to take the final step and adopt him. This has permanently removed him from the foster system. He will no longer be left wondering where and when he will be moved. He has a forever home with caring guardians and a new circle of family and friends.
Fostering Was Their Calling
Foster family speaks out: Speaking to WWNYTV, Anna Dietrich said, “The Lord made it very clear that we were supposed to all out, adopt him. We’re supposed to give him our name, give him our family, give him our whole hearts.” Her god had told them to do the right thing, and, fearing its wrath, they obeyed
- Anna Dietrich, the new mother of Samuel ‘Cozy’ Dietrich, is the logistics coordinator for something known as Project Zero. The organisation aims to have every child in the foster care system housed. She is leading the charge by taking in Cozy, one of the longest-standing kids in the Arkansas foster system.
- “Cozy’s getting a home today, and that is what we want for every single one of our waiting kids,” Anna Dietrich said. “So until there are zero, let’s start this up again tomorrow because today we’re celebrating.”
Why it matters: But this is only a drop in the ocean for the project. There are more than 3,000 kids who need homes in Arkansas alone, so the work is far from done. However, kind and open-hearted actions like this happen every day.
Fostering a child is no small task, and it takes time, dedication, compassion, and a ton of paperwork. But, for the Dietrich family, it was worth it to provide Cozy with a forever home, and some much-needed stability.
