Description:The Selly Oak Receiving Home, as it was initially known, existed to take in children before a more permanent arrangement was made for them. The home functioned from at least 1912, possibly earlier.
In 1914, the Oaklands became a short-stay probationary home – with Summer Hill taking over the receiving home function for the whole city.
In 1923, it was decided that Home 11 in Shenley Fields would be converted into a probationary home so that the building of the Oaklands could once more be used as part of Selly Oak Hospital.
It is possible that Oaklands was on the site of the current Oaklands Centre (a modern building) on Raddlebarn Road.
Incidentally, there is also another Oaklands in Birmingham's childcare history, a residential nursery in Droitwich.
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Image: Selly Oak Hospital sign, 2010.
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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.