| AdminHistory | Before the Second World War, Birmingham City Council was responsible for a remand home for boys at Moseley Road; during the war, after it suffered bomb damage, the home moved to Bell Heath and then again, shortly afterwards, to Fircroft College, Bournville. Fircroft was not available for the council to use in the long term, however, and in early 1945 the council accepted Barrow Cadbury’s offer to purchase a property and convert it for use as a remand home for 50 senior boys. (A remand centre for junior boys was re-established at Athelstan House on Moseley Road.)
Cadbury purchased Forhill House, on Lea End Lane in Kings Norton, for £4,750. The property consisted of a country house, with a lodge and 21 acres of grounds; Cadbury also built four cottages for use by workers at the new home. Forhill House was presented to the city in 1946 in memory of Cadbury’s wife, Geraldine, who had had an interest in the care of delinquent children. The first boys moved into the home in 1946, and the official opening took place on 30 May 1947.
The home was intended to be the first ‘Observation Home’ in the country, an idea which Geraldine Cadbury had supported. Although it was referred to as a remand home, it was intended that Forhill House would not be a punitive institution but one where the staff would attempt to pinpoint the reasons for a child’s delinquency and, if possible, address them. Boys were educated according to their ability and provided with opportunities to pursue hobbies, crafts and outdoor work. However, the nature of the home meant that boys generally did not stay there more than a few weeks, while either awaiting a court appearance or waiting for a place in an approved school or other home.
The 1969 Children and Young Persons Act replaced children’s remand homes with observation and assessment centres, which would ‘provide facilities on both a residential and a day attendance basis for children remanded or subject to interim orders by the courts, and will advise on the treatment of children in care, so that decisions can be soundly based on the best possible diagnosis of the child’s needs and circumstances.’ [‘Children in Trouble’, Home Office, 1968.] Childcare theory at this time made little distinction between children who were ‘delinquent’ and those who were ‘deprived’, and so it was intended that the O&A centres would be used to assess both these groups. However, it appears that Forhill continued to function largely as a remand unit.
By the 1980s Forhill was known as specialising in caring for older, more difficult adolescent boys, usually on remand, and it was acknowledged within the Social Services department that this allowed the other community homes in the city to function with less stress. In November 1986, however, a report of the Director of Social Services recommended Forhill House for closure. The buildings were in a state of disrepair which would require around £300,000 to fix, and as a consequence the number of boys the home could accommodate had been reduced. Furthermore, the city had 212 beds for ‘more difficult’ adolescents, but an average of only 175 children occupying them, a significant overcapacity. It was decided to move Forhill’s remand function to St John’s in Erdington, which had existing accommodation on site which could be easily converted; this would produce a net loss of 20 beds, which the council found acceptable. A further advantage of moving the remand centre to St John’s was that it was closer to the city centre, reducing transport costs and allowing friends and family of the residents to visit more easily.
Forhill House closed in July 1987. The building was later demolished and housing was built on the site.
Administration
At the time Forhill House was opened, remand homes were the responsibility of the Remand Home Sub-Committee of the Education Committee (see BCC 1/BH/14/7). With the formation of the Children’s Committee in 1948, responsibility passed to it, under its Approved Schools and Remand Homes Sub-Committee (see BCC 1/CT/7).
In 1970 the Children’s Committee and the Welfare Committee were merged into the new Social Services Committee, and responsibility for Forhill was taken over by the Approved School and Observation Centres Sub-Committee (see BCC 1/DJ/2). In April 1973, under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1969, approved schools and observation and assessment centres were redefined as community homes, which gave them the same legal status as other children’s homes, and meant that the sub-committee was disbanded. The administration of these new homes was taken on by the Residential Sub-Committee (see BCC 1/DJ/4) and the Community Support and Field Services Sub-Committee (see BCC 1/DJ/5). |