My friend Barbro Loader, who has died of cancer aged 67, had a long and distinguished career in social work.
She was the daughter of farmers, Anna and Sven Eskilsson, and grew up in Vastanavagen, a village in Skåne, southern Sweden. Aged 20 she volunteered for a children’s vaccination project for six months in Nigeria. Then she studied social work at Lund University, and as part of her course did a practice placement at Dingleton hospital, a therapeutic community in the Scottish Borders. There she met Peter Loader, a young doctor in training. They married in 1973 and had two children, Joe and Sarah. They settled in London, where Barbro worked with Islington Family Service Unit, and later at Pentonville prison and St Charles hospital.
I first met Barbro in 1992 when she started work for Barnet adoption service. She was instantly recognisable for her fashionable dress and restless energy. She quickly assimilated all she could about adoption, was very direct, and was never afraid to ask for help.
In 1996 she moved to the adoption charity Coram, where she was regarded as a role model and was instrumental in the development of innovative models of adoption support. Later she moved to the London Borough of Haringay adoption service as part of a new management team, brought in to improve a failing service. Barbro succeeded in imposing her own high standards, and the service was upgraded.
During this time she gained an MA with merit in advanced social work at the Tavistock Clinic. Returning to Coram, which was working in partnership with Cambridgeshire county council, she became the manager for the local authority adoption service, until her retirement in 2013. In the last week of her life she heard that this service had been given a national award for excellence.
Barbro loved London, and was a keen choral singer, and opera- and theatre-goer. She enjoyed long walks, and in her 60s undertook two treks in the Himalayas. Barbro was diagnosed with cancer early in 2015. Characteristically, she lived life to the full as long as her health permitted. She paid a last visit to her homeland, but wished to spend most of her time with her family. She loved being a grandmother to her grandchildren.
Barbro and Peter divorced in 1992. She is survived by Joe and Sarah and four of her five grandchildren, Tom, Maisy, Jake and Eskil, and by two brothers, Lars and Bengt.
