Robert Glover first visited China in 1996 as a UK social worker to research how he could use his professional training to support disadvantaged children. In 1998 Robert and Elizabeth founded ‘Care for Children’ and moved to Shanghai with their family of eight, to work in partnership with the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

To acknowledge the unprecedented success of the pilot project, in 2002, Robert was awarded the White Magnolia award by the Mayor of Shanghai for outstanding services to the city.

Robert and Elizabeth were then asked by the Beijing government to move to Beijing to act as an advisor to China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and to roll out foster care across China .

In 2005 Robert was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London, for his work for Care for Children.

In 2012 Care for Children was invited to begin a pilot project in Thailand, 2014, a third project was launched in Vietnam.

In 2018, the documentary “Children of Shanghai” began development, charting the Glover’s journey to China, and showing the huge impact of their work in the lives of thousands of vulnerable children. The documentary, due for release in 2020, connects with five of the first children placed in foster care in Shanghai to show how their lives have been transformed over the last twenty years.

Robert and Elizabeth have had remarkable success in replicating family placement across Asia. They act as advisors at conferences, events and consortiums around the world. Their work has seen a generation of orphans lives transformed through the love of a family!