Robert Mark Glover
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Robert Glover is
founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
and executive director of the UK children's charity Care for Children. Glover also works as an advisor to the Chinese government on
social welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...
for disadvantaged children.


Early life

Glover grew up not knowing his father, and was raised by his mother, grandmother and two sisters in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, England. He played for
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
football club in his youth, and later played football for
Portsmouth F.C. Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The team is currently competing in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system in the 2024–25 ...
, but stopped following an injury.


Career

After joining the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, Glover went on to work for the
Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for Norfolk, England. Below it there are seven second-tier district councils: Breckland District, Breckland, Broadland, Borough of Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmo ...
and eventually got a degree in
social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
. On a trip to
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
with a friend, Glover was appointed by the director of Shanghai's Civil Affairs Bureau, to work with them as senior consultant in developing their child welfare system to include
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...
. The charity Care for Children was registered in the UK, and Glover signed an agreement to start in 1998. Accompanied by his wife and six children, Glover moved to Shanghai to work moving
orphans An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages, such as Swedis ...
and vulnerable children from institutional care into foster family care. The fostering project was launched with the objectives of 1) establishing a foster care program for children in the Shanghai state orphanage and 2) setting up a program of childcare training. After a successful
pilot project A pilot experiment, pilot study, pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...
, the
Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Civil Affairs ( zh, 中华人民共和国民政部) the cabinet-level executive department of the State Council of China which is responsible for social and administrative affairs. It is the 10th-ranked department in the State C ...
asked Glover to move to
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
to act as advisor to the government and help roll out the foster care program. Following a successful pilot project, the Shanghai government awarded Glover the White Magnolia Award for outstanding services to the city. In 2005, he was awarded an
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
in Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
's
2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; ...
."New Year Honours--United Kingdom"
''The London Gazette of Thursday 30 December 2004 Supplement No. 1''; accessed 14 August 2020.


References

British charity and campaign group workers Founders of charities Officers of the Order of the British Empire Portsmouth F.C. players Living people English men's footballers Year of birth missing (living people) Men's association football players not categorized by position People from Norfolk {{UK-bio-stub