On a mission to help the most vulnerable

• Published date: 25 August 2022
• Publication title: False Bay Echo

It was always a passion and one of Ms Stephenson’s heart’s desires to be a mom and have lots of children. Today, she is a mom of five (three biological and two adopted) children and runs a registered non-profit organisation that helps find “forever families” for orphaned or abandoned children

To understand how this all came to be, she takes us back to when she first saw that advert, and how at that moment she felt her heart being stirred by God.

“The advert invited interested parties to attend an open meeting, which I did because it was something I couldn’t get my head around. How was it possible to take a child for a weekend, or just for the holidays, or just for a short period? It was a traumatic thought for me as I couldn’t imagine having to give up a child that I had invested my love into.”

It was only once Ms Stephenson and her husband, Hamilton, had three biological children of their own that she again felt that pull towards foster care and adoption. She discussed the idea of adopting with her husband and children, as well as church leaders.

In 2007, when Ms Stephenson was 40, and after further discussions with her children and husband, they decided to put their names forward to adopt. They approached Child Welfare, went through training courses and interviews, did all the necessary paperwork and went on the waiting list.

Nine months later, they welcomed a 9-month-old baby boy into their home.

“It was just the most beautiful, wonderful, supernatural, amazing, glorious experience, and one that was just so sweet and complete,” says Ms Stephenson.

Three years later, in 2010, Child Welfare contacted her and mentioned that the mother of her first adopted son was pregnant again. They asked whether she would be interested in adopting the baby. Without hesitation, she and her husband answered yes, but heard nothing back.

Soon after, says Ms Stephenson, she kept seeing God “handing her a baby”, and she felt that this baby's name should be Naomi.

In 2013, when questioning whether they should put their names forward to adopt again, Ms Stephenson and her family visited a children's home that was part of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Durban. The home provided temporary safe care for babies and children until adoption.

It was after that visit, when they arrived home, when Ms Stephenson and her husband started talking about the baby named Naomi. She says they realised that Naomi was not a baby but a vehicle for something greater.

That vehicle was the NPO...