Ballito’s Justin Foxton speaks out about adopting a new way of thinking

While running on a dirt road, greeting the farm workers as they passed him, one particular craggy old guy with firewood on his shoulder made him stop dead.

Brettenwood resident Justin Foxton greeted the man, they looked at each other and two worlds collided.

Little did Foxton know that years later he and his wife Cathy would have their hearts stolen by a little girl from this other world and he would become a zealous advocate for adoption.

“This moment of connection of these different worlds got me thinking.

“Our laws have changed, but have our hearts followed suit?” questioned Foxton, who moved back to South Africa from the UK in 2007.

He started ‘Stop Crime Say Hello’ – a website and former column in the Mercury acting as a mouthpiece to counteract the negativity about the country and the start of a dialogue on mutual respect.

“Crime is often seen as a symptom of poverty. We cannot do a great deal about global poverty, but crime is also a disrespect to other’s belongings and we can treat each other with respect.”

Taking his work further with the mission to bridge the gap between races and classes, he started a mentorship program for children living in orphanages.

“We also took over a baby home in 2010 and ran it for about four years with the objective of creating a loving environment. It was crazy, because neither my wife (Cathy) nor I were interested in having babies at the time. We are intensely private people and all of a sudden there were babies everywhere and strangers coming into our home.”

While he originally promised his wife they would find an adoptive home for each of the babies within a year, there was one they could not let go.

“Lolly was three and a half months old when she came into our home and we knew we wanted to adopt her. She is now seven and runs our lives,” said Foxton, who is also involved in the school principal empowerment program Partners for Possibility.

With all of these projects on the go, Foxton and his wife started The Peace Agency – an umbrella NPO for Stop Crime Say Hello, The Baby Home and the Hammersdale Child Care Centre.

He said they are passionate advocates for adoption and he hopes to change the narrative around abandoned babies.

“We see abandoned babies come in under 12 hours old sometimes.

“There is a huge need to help and I want people to understand this problem is driven out of necessity – it comes from a broken system that causes people to be so impoverished and neglected that they see no other way. That is what needs to change.”

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