Description:Oakhill House (31 Meadow Road) was opened in 1968 as a reception centre. The following year the facilities at Oakhill were extended by leasing a house farther up Meadow Road.
The new house was a three-storey detached house and was adapted to be a nursery reception unit for 10 children. Young children were brought to Meadow Road when they were initially taken into care. They would spend some time in the reception unit before being moved to a more permanent place – be it a residential home or into a foster family.
In its initial years, it was not classed as a standalone unit, but as part of Oakhill and thus there is little information relating to it. In the 1970s, however, it was renamed Chaddesley residential nursery and was considered separate from Oakhill.
In 1979, as Chaddesley Nursery, it had accommodation for 14 children.
It closed as a residential nursery in 1981 as did most of the other residential nurseries when the Social Services policy changed to try and foster children aged under 5 rather than put them in residential care. Chaddesley remained functioning as a community home (children's home) however for a short time - at least until the end of 1982. In its new role as a community home for children it maintained the 14 beds it had had as a nursery and kept the name 'Chaddesley'. It was closed by 1986.
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Image: A publicity photograph used by Birmingham's Children's Department in 1967. At this stage, the Birmingham Children's Homes project does not have any photographs of this nursery.
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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.