Childs grew up in Laugharne.[2] He was educated at Whitland Grammar School, before reading history at University College, Cardiff.[2] He studied theology at Salisbury Theological College, before being ordained in 1942.[3] He was a curate in Milford Haven and then Laugharne. In 1947 he became editor of Cymry'r Groes, a magazine to serve the official youth organization of the Church of Wales.[2] It was renamed Province in 1949; Childs remained its editor until 1967.[2]
Childs married Cicely Davies in 1951; they were to have a son and a daughter.[4] Also in 1951 Childs became Warden of Llandaff House, Penarth in 1951; this was a university hall of residence provided by the diocese.[2] Four years later he became secretary of the provincial council for education and then, in 1956, secretary and treasurer of the Historical Society of the Church in Wales.[2] In 1961 he left Llandaff House to become first director of the Church in Wales Publications.[2] In 1965 he became chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral and then principal of Trinity College, Carmarthen.[2][5] At that time church colleges were fighting for their survival; Childs had an important role in ensuring that Trinity College both survived and embarked on a period of imaginative development.[2] In 1972, he was elected bishop of Monmouth and in 1983 became Primate of the Church in Wales.[6] Childs was a sub-prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.
Childs retired in 1986.[4] He died shortly afterwards as the result of a motor accident.[4]
