Paulding County Foster Parents Who Adopt Five Siblings Honored as Georgia Foster Parents of the Year

ALPHARETTA (Nov. 9, 2017) – FaithBridge Foster Care, a Christ-centered child placement agency, announced today that a Paulding County couple that just adopted five siblings -- after caring for them as foster parents -- have been honored as among Georgia’s foster parents of the year.
The Georgia Conference on Children and Families awarded Nicole and Bruce Barlow of Dallas for their outstanding commitment to children, their work with FaithBridge Foster Care and adopting five children as foster parents.
When the legal rights of the children’s mother were terminated, the Barlows decided to adopt the five children and add to their family.
They now have a family of six children, thanks to their love for foster children and a willingness to keep a group of siblings together who needed a home, said Bob Bruder- Mattson, President, and CEO of FaithBridge Foster Care.
“The Barlows truly exemplify the love of Jesus Christ in action by the amazing way they give to children,” Bruder-Mattson said. “They are so worthy of this honor, and they inspire others.”
In 2012, the Barlows learned about FaithBridge Foster Care at their church and how they could become foster parents or provide respite care and support to other foster parents. They then fostered two young boys who were then reunited with their mother.
In October 2016, they met another foster care family that had been temporarily caring for five siblings removed from their home. They provided respite help for that family. When a permanent home became needed, they volunteered to take all five of those children into their home – four girls and one boy.
In July of this year, the Barlows were able to adopt these children and keep them together as a family unit – including taking them to church with them at Four Points Church. In a significant majority of foster care cases in the state, children must be split up from their brother or sister because there are not enough potential foster parents willing to take more than one child.“We need so many more foster parents like the Barlows,” Bruder-Mattson said. “They have shown such immense love and kindness. Children like these have had enough trauma in their lives, and they are making a beautiful sacrifice to keep the children together.”
The Barlows are now the proud parents of their natural born son Aidan, 14; and adopted children Maddie, 11, Zoe, 10, Lizzie, 5, Bella, 4 and Will, 3.
The Georgia Conference on Children and Families is a collaboration between the state Division of Family and Children Services and Together Georgia. The Barlows were recognized at the Conference in late October.
The Barlows have been foster care ministry team leaders, Impact trainers and prayer warriors for broken families and children. They formed loving relationships with the mother of the first boys they fostered and are now forging a relationship with the mother of their adopted children, trying to be a positive influence on her life.
“The Barlows truly have responded to God’s call to provide these children a stable, forever family,” said Anna Crumbliss, area managing director for FaithBridge Foster Care. “They have loved these children unconditionally and demonstrated God’s love for all his children – especially foster children who no doubt are the orphans of our time.”

About FaithBridge Foster Care
FaithBridge Foster Care is a nonprofit that partners with churches to recruit foster families and volunteers that help form the Community of Care℠ to support foster children and families. They contract with the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to place foster children in loving, Christian homes until they can be reunified with family or adopted. The foster care division has a program director, a Community of Care℠ director and several area managing directors with foster family consultants in each area. The foster family consultants act as a liaison with DFCS and they offer spiritual insight and support to the foster families. For more information, visit FaithBridge Foster Care at www.faithbridgefostercare.org