Description:This children's home was built as a 'family group home' or ‘scattered home’ on the Brandwood Park Estate in 1951.
It was part of a programme of new children’s homes, each built on Birmingham's newly developing housing estates, which were to be small family homes – a move away from the pre-Second World War larger children’s homes. Shelfield Road was one of the first of these small homes to be built. Another children's home was built on the Brandwood Park estate at the same time and to a similar design - on Tunnel Lane.
When it was built, it had room for eight children but, in 1967 the Shelfield Road home was knocked through into the adjoining house (no. 10) to make a larger home. Eight-bed family group homes in Bartley Green and Kings Heath (Sunderton Road) were also knocked through into the adjoining houses as part of a move to increase the number of beds available in the city. The process of knocking through meant that the number of beds was increased from eight to twelve.
According to the electoral roll, the live-in staff (most likely the house-parents) were Henry and Joan Cox, from the 1954 electoral roll through to the 1980 electoral roll. After 1983, however, there are no further individuals registered to vote at the address. This is most likely because there were no longer any live-in staff, as was the case in most of the City Council’s children’s homes.
Because of overcrowding, on 15th August 1988, Shelfield Road was transferred into another children's home (formerly known as The Shieling) in Kings Heath.
When the children and staff were transferred, the building on Shelfield Road was no longer used as a children’s home.
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Image: Shelfield Road children's home standing unused in 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.