History of the Department

The Children and Families Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution: it was established on 6 September 2026 and this history is one day long. The milestones below record how it came to exist and what it undertook to do, and will be extended as its programmes come into operation.

1. Before August 2026

   Arrangements made by member organisations

   Before the Department existed, each member organisation of the Network made its own arrangements for the children of its staff. There was no common standard for early years care, no single place to which a concern about a child could be taken, and no shared record of the children living at the sites of the Network. A family that moved between organisations began again.

2. 10 August 2026

   The transition period begins

   Member organisations began transferring their arrangements for children, and the records supporting them, to the Department in formation. Safeguarding concerns, early years places, fostering placements and family support cases continued to be handled under interim arrangements throughout the four weeks that followed.

3. 5 September 2026

   The transition period ends

   The transfer was completed. During the period, 218 safeguarding concerns were recorded, 96 assessments of a child's needs were completed, 9 adoption orders were made and 1,844 early years places were taken up. A single register of 11,240 children under the age of eighteen had been assembled in readiness for establishment.

4. 6 September 2026

   Department established

   The Children and Families Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the safeguarding of children, the registration and inspection of early years providers, adoption and fostering, and support to families across the Network.

5. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Department launched children.gov.vin, carrying press releases and official statements, guidance for parents and carers, the register of early years providers, the procedure for raising a safeguarding concern and the steps to becoming an adopter or a foster carer.

6. 6 September 2026

   Duty desk opened and register published

   The safeguarding duty desk began receiving concerns about any child in the Network. The register of 46 early years providers, offering 2,414 places, was published, and registration became a condition of providing early years care. The Department issued its first statistical release the same day.

7. 21 September 2026

   Inspection of early years providers begins

   The first cycle of inspections against the six registration standards opens. Every registered provider is to be inspected within its first year of registration, and inspection reports are published on this site as they are completed.

8. 28 September 2026

   The adoption and fostering panel first sits

   The panel begins its monthly sittings, considering the assessment of every prospective adopter and foster carer and making its recommendation to the Director of the Department.

9. Forthcoming

   Training, programmes and quarterly reporting

   Training for the designated safeguarding officers of member organisations begins in October 2026, the first parenting programmes open at the sites from 5 October 2026, and the Department's first quarterly statistical report, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be published in October 2026 and announced in the Newsroom.

The Department publishes each of these events, and those that follow, in the Newsroom. For its present responsibilities and how it is organised, see About the Department; for the figures behind the dates above, see Statistics.