The practicalities of putting useful information about children’s homes online Gudrun Limbrick BA Hons Oxon MA (B’ham)

The Birmingham Children’s Homes Project Former Children’s Homes website

Birmingham Children’s Homes Project The original need Piecemeal records Nothing to offer former residents Many family historians Unsorted archives The original solution A one-year joint City Council Social Care / Archives & Heritage Oral History and Archiving project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund

The actual problem “It was like my children’s home didn’t exist; it was like my childhood hadn’t happened”

Former Children’s Homes website Wide-ranging – no restrictions on the types or nature of the homes featured Two-way communication Features ‘oral history’ / memories Constantly changing Closely monitored

FAMILY HISTORIANS Site users CARE LEAVERS On behalf of close relatives Researching ancestors

A few examples of enquiries “I would dearly like to know more about the life of the children in the Orphanage. My great Uncle and his future wife were there in the 1890s. His name was William Joseph Eyre and the lady’s name was Harriet Wilday. They were both 11 in the 1891 Census. He and his two sisters Ellen and Emily Eyre were orphaned when both their parents died.....their Father, William Eyre in 1885 in an industrial accident and their Mother Susanna Eyre (nee Amos) in childbirth with the birth of a daughter in My Grandmother Ellen and her sister went to Crawley’s Orphanage for Girls but William ended up in Mason’s Orphanage. William J Eyre was born in 1880, so would have been 5 when his Father died and presumably went straight there and probably stayed until he was old enough to work. I would love to know a bit about their life and what sort of care they received.”

A few examples of enquiries “Hi. I think I may of been placed here. I was given up on June to a residential nursery at the drive Countesthorpe, Leicester. I am currently searching for my birth mother”

A few examples of enquiries “How do you find people that worked at Beechholme 1963 onwards?”

A few examples of enquiries “Thank you for your prompt response. Just writing the has helped me and the website too. I have just turned 65 and have a grand daughter and this has brought memories back. That is all.”

A few examples of enquiries “I note your project, I was in Springfield in Erdington in the 60s and I want absolute assurance that no information about me or my photograph will be published without my permission. If you do not give this assurance I will seek legal advice”

No-one asks for more than they are due Information about life in particular homes Information about access to records about ancestors Information about access to care leavers’ own records Photographs of people in the homes Photographs of buildings Contact with other people in the homes “A trip down memory lane” 

Always happy to talk! Gudrun Limbrick