ARLINGTON, Texas — One of the best moments of Mari Flores’ life was when a judge made a final decision on becoming her son Trae’s official mother.  She has photographs her family took of that very moment, and each time she sees them she relives it and feels the same blissful emotion.

“I felt very fulfilled, very happy, and I was not expecting him to react that way. He let out a huge sigh and collapsed into my arms," Flores said. 

Though the adoption became official in a courtroom in the summer of 2021, the bond between the two began to develop a long time ago.

“People were shocked to find out that we were not biologically mother and son. People have always thought that we are because we are so bonded,” Flores said. 

He has been under her care since he was a little boy, ever since she stepped in to give him a loving home.

“It is amazing to me what love can do for a child, how a child will grow once they are loved,” said Flores.

Just what Trae always needed and longed for, hoping a judge would grant the adoption to be with Mom for good.

“I kinda felt like it wouldn’t have gone through, 'cause if it didn’t my birth parents would have still been able to come get me and I don't wanna go through what I did when I was younger,” Trae said. 

That is why Flores never backed down or gave up on the difficult process.

"Over a year, over a year from the time that we filed,” she said.

No matter how long it took or what obstacles got in the way at times. Against all odds.

“Even a single woman, a single person, you can still do it, there are still resources out there,” she said. 

Resources and support that can make it possible for the nearly 424,000 children in out-of-home placements situations in the United States to find forever homes. 

There are over 1,000 children in the same situation in Travis and Tarrant counties, and more than 2,000 in Dallas County and over 3,000 in Bexar County. 

“For quite a while now we have had a great need for foster and adoptive parents. I will say in the past we have been able to remove some barriers. You know, you don't have to make six figures, you don’t have to be married. You do have to be financially stable but you just have to have an open heart,” said Tiffani Butler with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

For Flores it has all been worth it, so rewarding that she would do it again.

“I wanna adopt again. We’ve actually looked into me getting a license so I can adopt again,” she said.

Because just as she made her son’s dream come true, he made hers, too.

“You can still be a mom, you don’t have to give birth,” she said.

For more information on adoption resources in Texas, click here.