Description:Home 4 was initially a home for girls only and, as such, was on the left hand side of the drive.
By 1948, Home 4 had become mixed with accommodation for 20 boys and girls. In 1949 it became known as The Haven.
Home 4 was attached to Home 6, the home next door. A resident in the late 1940s and early 1950s, remembers that there was a door between the two and she recollects the staff in Home 4:
"In home 4 was Mr. and Mrs Ware and their son. So in our dormitory there was eight girls and there was nine boys with her son in that dormitory and in that home there was Mr and Mrs Ware, Aunty Edie, Edie Farmer, and Miss Airey and she was a very slim, very quiet lady she was".
The home closed for a period in 1973 but was later reopened.
By 1979, the number of beds had been reduced to 12.
In 1982, when the city’s residential childcare was divided into districts, The Haven was in the North/East District. Other children’s homes on the Gardens, such as Braemar and Glenedyth were serving the West District.
The Haven closed in 1983 or 1984.
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Image: The building which was originally built as the Superintendent's Office, taken in 2004. Photograph kindly donated by Paul Dolan. The project does not currently have any photographs of The Haven.
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Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.