Description:Work started on building a new children’s home in Selly Park in 1973. This was at a time when there was significant building of children’s homes going on in Birmingham – the first six 18-bed homes had recently been completed and work was underway on the next three. Homes in Hockley and on Lea Hall Road were also being built.
This children's home was built as a 17-bed home to the same design as Lea Hall Road. It opened in around 1975 but the number of beds had already been reduced to 16. The two buildings looked very similar to each other.
Between 1975 and 1980, Julia Garrett managed the home and lived on the premises while bringing up her own young family.
In 2009 the home closed, was then demolished and, at the time of writing in 2010, is in the process of being rebuilt.
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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 children's home.
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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.