First-Time Dad Eloy Rodriguez Adopted Baby Easton at a Jurassic Park-Themed Adoption Day in Odessa, Texas, Where 7 Foster Children Gained Families
The room at Odessa Bible Church was full of foster parents, families and child advocates when Judge Tracey Scown began approving adoptions, and the day carried a prehistoric theme inspired by a line from Jurassic Park. One of those families was led by Eloy Rodriguez, a first-time parent, who became the legal father of a baby boy named Easton.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services hosted the National Adoption Day event in Ector County, according to KWES NewsWest 9 reporter Lucero Corona’s story, published Nov. 7. Five local families finalized adoptions, and seven children moved out of foster care and into permanent homes.
Eloy Rodriguez and Baby Easton
Rodriguez became a parent to Easton after months of foster care and legal paperwork, according to the report.
The station did not say how old Easton is or how he came into Rodriguez’s care. What it did report is how Rodriguez described the change in his life: having Easton has changed it, he said, and the thing he looks forward to most is the day the baby calls him “daddy.”
Rodriguez also had a message for anyone weighing the same decision, telling them to “go for it.”
The Judge, the Families and the Seven Children
Judge Tracey Scown, who presides over Ector County’s 358th District Court, approved the adoptions during the event, the report said. Families and child advocates watched the proceedings, and the station described happy tears and the relief of long-awaited stability.
The theme was a nod to the movie, though the station did not quote the line it was built on or describe the decorations. What the story makes clear is the mood: a room filled with celebrating families and foster parents, where a legal proceeding doubled as a party.
The seven children went to five families. One of them was a young girl who joined a household full of boys. The report did not name the other families.
Klara Garcia, a Child Protective Services adoption supervisor, said finalizing an adoption “ends a chapter and starts a new one.” Her comment fits how the process works. A child usually lives with a foster or kinship family for a stretch before any adoption, and the court hearing is the last step. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, known as DFPS, says that after a child has lived with the adoptive family for six months, the family can file a petition to adopt, and if a judge approves it, the adoption becomes final, the CPS case is dismissed and DFPS is no longer involved. Adopted children have the same legal and inheritance rights as biological children.
DFPS describes the final court hearing as the step that finalizes the adoption, grants conservatorship to the adoptive parents and closes the agency’s case, in its steps for adopting from Texas foster care. Before that, the agency prepares the child, matches the child with a family through a staffing, and gives the family a chance to read the child’s redacted case record.
Another Texas courtroom held a similar moment days earlier, when an Athens couple adopted their 19-month-old niece before the judge who had been on her case from the start.
Sixty-Five Children Still Waiting in Ector and Midland Counties
The station reported that data from September shows 65 children in Ector and Midland counties remain in foster care. Anyone interested in adopting can visit AdoptChildren.org or contact their local CPS office, according to the report.
The state’s basic requirements are short. DFPS says adoptive applicants must be 21 or older, and they can be single or married. They must be financially stable, agree to a home study with visits to all household members, give references, and pass a criminal history check and an abuse and neglect check for every adult in the home. The agency’s requirements page also says DFPS charges no fee to adopt, though families pay legal fees that may be reimbursed up to $1,200 per child if the child is eligible for adoption assistance.
AdoptUSKids lists a Texas foster and adoption line at 800-233-3405, with Spanish available, and says applicants attend an information meeting and a free training course on abused and neglected children before approval, in its Texas state guide.
Children who are waiting for families are searchable on the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange. DFPS says it may also feature a child in a Heart Gallery portrait, arrange television filming or hold match parties, and that home studies narrow the pool of families to three to five before a selection meeting picks one.
Money is part of the picture, too. DFPS says adoption assistance is available for children with a “special need,” a category that includes minority children over age 2, non-minority children over age 6, children adopted with or joining a sibling, and children with a verifiable physical, mental or emotional condition. Eligible children can receive a monthly subsidy and Medicaid, and youth adopted through DFPS are exempt from tuition and fees at state-supported colleges. After the adoption, contracted providers offer post-adoption services such as parent groups, counseling and respite care, depending on funding and the family’s situation.
The Odessa event was one of many tied to National Adoption Day. The national organizers, a coalition that includes the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, say events take place in more than 400 communities and that the day has recognized more than 95,000 children moving from foster care to permanent families. The page lists Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026, as the next national date. A Tennessee couple who adopted their nephew in Ohio was among the families Parent Diaries covered this month.
In Odessa, the count for the day was five families and seven children, among them a baby named Easton and the first-time father who adopted him.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Billy Hathorn – CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons
