Robert Glover with youngsters and staff at an orphanage in China,,,
Growing up without a father, Norfolk lad Robert Glover seemed like the most unlikely candidate to bring about a revolution in China’s childcare, resulting in more than one million orphans being placed into loving families.
He first visited China in 1996 as a UK social worker to research how he could use his professional training to support disadvantaged children. Two years later he with his wife Elizabeth founded the charity Care for Children. At that time, they took the bold step of faith of moving to Shanghai with their family of eight, to work in partnership with the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.
Robert grew up with an understanding of what it was like for these orphans across China as his father left his mother and two sisters when he was just two years old. During that time God was also preparing him spiritually for this significant ministry as he began to explore the Christian faith.
“As a young boy I started going to a church in Norwich called Christ Church New Canton. We used to go to a club called Discoverers every Wednesday night and really got embedded into church family life. I remember as a 12-year-old being quite passionate about Jesus. It was very much the foundation of my getting to know Jesus.
Those foundations of his faith eventually motivated Robert to fulfil his calling to take his family to China and follow in the footsteps of many pioneer missionaries who inspired him along the way. But his career path took many twists and turns before he got to that point, starting with him living out his boyhood dream to become a professional footballer, which was sadly short-lived:
“As a boy I got to train with Norwich City FC’s first team which was remarkable because these were the heroes of our time. I really thought that was I was going to play for the Canaries. But at 16 I was told I was too small and they felt I should come back in a year’s time. Devastated, I spent a small time with Colchester FC but that wasn’t really the dream.”
Not deterred by this setback Robert took two completely different career paths starting with joining the Royal Navy at the age of 21.
“I expected to go on a naval aircraft carrier and go to the South China Seas but suddenly I found myself in this electric submarine in the Baltic during the cold war. But then after I served my three years I became a social worker in Norfolk. That’s where I became very interested in family placement and adoption and fostering.”
NEW LIFE
During this time Robert started his own family with his wife Elizabeth. But after moving to Guernsey where Robert’s job became increasingly important in fostering and adoption care, God was stirring them towards a new life in China.
“Someone came to our church and told me he sensed I’d be father to as many children as there are stars. At the time we thought that was rather strange. Then in 1996 an Australian guy told me he believed I’d be in an earthquake within the year and it was going to be where God wanted me to be. Later that year I had the opportunity to go to Shanghai with a friend of mine. Then one night in our hotel room we started to feel an earthquake. As I stood in the frame of the door of our room I remembered those words spoken over me, so I knew this was where God was calling us to be.”
Two years later in 1998 Robert and his family were finally able to fulfil this word from God and move to Shanghai to become advisors on China’s childcare on behalf of the British government.
“The initial programme funded by the UK Government Department for International Development was to place 500 children from Shanghai orphanages into families, which we achieved. That grew under our charity Care For Children as we went into other cities and then eventually we moved to Beijing to launch a national programme. We travelled to every corner of the country establishing new programmes where children could move out of institutions back into Chinese families.”
Nearly two decades after Care For Children was established Robert saw the fulfilment of the word given to him that he’d be father to as many children as there are stars, when he discovered that they had surpassed the incredible milestone of seeing more than a million orphan children placed into families.
“A few years ago we were at a conference where Professor Du from the Beijing Bureau of Statistics gave a speech. He said that today in China 85% of all the children in care are now living in families. I was intrigued if it was a million because God had given us a vision for that number. I met Professor Du the next day and he told me it was even more than one million. I thought God is so faithful and today the majority of provinces in China don’t have orphanages, they have family placement.”
In 2018 Robert and his wife Elizabeth returned to China as part of a documentary called the Children of Shanghai where they were reunited with five of the children they had helped.
The legacy of their work in China has been remarkable, says Robert.
“One girl who had cerebral palsy went on to win a gold medal in the Paralympics in Sydney. Another boy who had been abandoned at the age of nine went on to be one of the movers and shakers in one of the biggest companies in the world. There are phenomenal stories of children who started life discarded into orphanages. Their lives through their families have been amazing.”
To find out more visit www.careforchildren.com
