Submission No 97

INQUIRY INTO FOUNDATIONAL AND DISABILITY SUPPORTS AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEW SOUTH WALES

Organisation: The Benevolent Society Date Received: 17 September 2026

Consultation on foundational and disability supports available for children and young people in NSW

Submission from The Benevolent Society September 2026

benevolent.org.au

Introduction

The Benevolent Society welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee Inquiry into Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales (NSW).

The Benevolent Society is one of Australia’s oldest charities, operating since 1813. Our vision is for a just society where everyone is valued, safe and belongs.

As a multi-service provider, we support people across all stages of life and deliver services across metropolitan, regional and rural New South Wales. We also work in Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.

We have a long history of supporting people with disability and helping families care for one another and raise children in safe, nurturing, and supportive environments.

In many other areas of our work, both inside and outside the NDIS system, we also provide early interventions for children with developmental delay and other concerns.

Our Early Years Places in Queensland offer integrated services and supports to families with young children and our InSync program, piloted in New South Wales and South Australia, works to provide play-based relationship focused supports to children with disability and their families.

We welcome the First Report of the Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in NSW and acknowledge the NSW Government’s commitment to progressing key elements of the reform agenda.

Thriving Kids represents the most significant reform initiative for children aged 0-8 years with developmental delay and/or autism who have low-to-moderate support needs. As the first major Foundational Supports program moving into large-scale commissioning and delivery, it provides an important opportunity to test and refine the implementation approaches that may inform the broader reform agenda.

This submission focuses on the practical implementation questions that remain central to the success of Foundational Supports and Thriving Kids in NSW.

Drawing on our practice experience, this submission focuses on three implementation priorities:

1. System integration is essential to allow families to access the range of supports available in a seamless way;

2. Intake and triage systems require specialised skills alongside the use of technology to ensure not only efficiency but also access from the most vulnerable client groups; and

3. Family-centred practice and key worker approaches can help sustain positive outcomes over time.

While The Benevolent Society supports the introduction of Thriving Kids, it should be commissioned as one component of a broader early childhood and disability support system, not as a substitute for specialised supports. Children with significant or ongoing needs will continue to require specialised support and clear pathways between Thriving Kids, other Foundational Supports and the NDIS.

Our recommendations focus on strengthening the implementation of Thriving Kids while recognising the need for broader investment across the support system.

Our Recommendations

Priority Area 1. System Integration

System integration is essential to allow families to access the range of supports available in a seamless way.

Foundational Supports must be designed around children and families, and how they actually experience and move through the system.

Children who need support must be identified early and connected with the right services, without families having to fight their way through a complex system to get help. Families need clear information, accessible pathways and support to navigate services, so they can get the right support for their child when they need it. Children often interact with multiple systems throughout their early years. This can present both a challenge and an opportunity.

Developmental concerns are often first identified through early childhood, health, and child and family services. A GP or community nurse might undertake developmental screening, or an early childhood worker may notice behaviours that require investigation. These settings play a central role in raising awareness of child development, supporting developmental screening and connecting families to support including, specialist disability supports.

Once a concern is identified, it can then be very challenging to navigate a service system that includes state and federal government programs, waitlists and different criteria for triage. A family might know that their child needs some interventions but be completely unsure what that intervention should look like, or how to access it.

To address the two challenges of access and navigation, effective system integration will be essential to ensure children and families can access the right support at the right time. This will require more than co-locating services; it will depend on clear referral pathways, appropriate information sharing, and systems that enable relevant information to follow children and families as their needs emerge and change over time.

Integrated service hubs

Integrated child and family hubs provide a practical model for delivering many of the supports now being procured through Thriving Kids. Families may not initially recognise a developmental concern or know which service to request; they often need time and space to explore questions with a practitioner who brings a developmental lens.

By bringing together child and family practitioners, early childhood educators, allied health practitioners, child health services and parenting supports, these models create trusted entry points where families can build relationships and access help early and according to need.

Specialist practitioners embedded in playgroups, parenting groups and early childhood education and care settings can support families to recognise emerging needs, while building the capability of the broader child, family and early childhood workforce to identify developmental indicators and begin strengths-based conversations before a child starts school.

Early engagement must also recognise that families may have had negative experiences with service systems, fear judgement, or encounter differing cultural and intergenerational understandings of child development and parenting. Trusted, non-stigmatising settings can create space for families to explore concerns and make informed choices about support in a single community-based setting.

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The Benevolent Society’s Early Years Places demonstrate the value of these integrated models with their soft-entry pathways. Families who entered our services through universal activities such as playgroups were more likely to engage with recommended developmental and family supports once needs were identified.

They can then be guided to the most appropriate next steps, whether that is parenting support, allied health services, kindergarten supports, the Early Childhood Approach or, where appropriate, the NDIS.

The integration of these functions supports stronger transitions by enabling information sharing and more coordinated support.

Staff insight from a Practice Partner with expertise in child and family services: “The strength of our child and family hubs is that there is no wait list. You walk in on the day that you need something and find the right person to talk to who helps you or directs you to get what you need in the moment.”

Integrated hub models also allow services to respond flexibly to identified needs.

The Benevolent Society’s Late Talkers Program was developed in response to community wait times of more than 12 months for speech pathology services in Cairns, Queensland.

Rather than waiting for families to access specialist services, the Early Years Centre designed a targeted playgroup that built parent capability and supported children’s language development earlier.

The program is delivered through an evidence-informed, family-centred approach aligned with the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention, natural environments and Circle of Security practice. Practitioners supported parents to use language stimulation strategies with their children during everyday interactions.

Each session focused on one practical strategy that families could continue to apply beyond the program.

Program evaluation identified improvements in parent empowerment and efficacy, stronger parent-child interactions and improved connections to community and developmental supports. Every child participating in the program also increased their expressive vocabulary.

One parent reflected: “The biggest change for me is that I’ve learnt a lot of skills that I use to support my daughter. I feel more confident and capable. I also feel supported, listened to, understood and I received help I really needed.”

What this means for Foundational Supports

Our experience delivering supported playgroups and community-based programs proves that many of the functions that will be delivered through Thriving Kids are most effective when embedded within existing community infrastructure, such as integrated child and family hubs, rather than delivered as standalone services.

These models can support earlier identification of developmental concerns, reduce barriers to accessing support and provide coordinated pathways between services as needs change.

Integrated service hubs can also make more effective use of government investment by reducing duplication and double handling. Shared information, coordinated support and access to specialist expertise can streamline processes and direct a greater proportion of funding towards supporting children and families.

The Benevolent Society believes that early years programs and services should operate as connected parts of one family journey.

Recommendations:

1. Leverage and strengthen existing community-based service models such as integrated child and family hubs, to deliver coordinated Foundational Supports through trusted local settings.

2. Invest in and evaluate innovative place-based approaches that integrate developmental supports, family supports, navigation and early intervention within existing community infrastructure, and use the findings to inform future Foundational Supports commissioning.

3. Design and commission Foundational Supports as a coherent family journey, ensuring children and families are connected to the right supports at the right time and can move seamlessly between supported playgroups, parenting support, navigation, family support coordination, allied health pathways and more intensive supports as needs change.

Priority Area 2. Intake and Triage

A dedicated, specialised front door is needed to combine skilled intake and triage with accessible technology.

Thriving Kids needs a clear front door. As the NDIS shifts away from being the primary pathway for children with low-to-moderate support needs, families need somewhere else to turn. That means a dedicated, specialised entry point that combines skilled intake and triage with accessible technology. Families should be able to find the right support quickly, without having to understand or navigate a complex service system themselves.

The Benevolent Society’s experience delivering the Early Childhood Approach (ECA) provides insight into the scale of potential demand for these new developmental support pathways.

Across our ECA partnership in South-East Queensland, we support approximately 16,000 children with funded plans and a further 4,000 children at different stages of referral, planning and early support pathways. This includes 6,338 participants with developmental delay, of whom 5,722 are aged 0 to 6 years. Many of these children access support through the developmental delay pathway without requiring a formal diagnosis. However, after age six, children generally require evidence of a diagnosis to continue accessing support through ECA.

Thriving Kids represents a significant shift away from this model by providing access to developmental supports based on a child’s needs rather than diagnosis alone.

However, Thriving Kids should be viewed as one component of a broader early intervention system rather than a standalone solution. Many children with more significant or ongoing disability-related needs will continue to require access to specialised supports alongside Foundational Supports.

Between January and July 2026, developmental delay was the primary reason recorded for the majority of our Access Not Met decisions. While these children did not meet NDIS access thresholds, many continued to receive early intervention support through our service, highlighting the importance of maintaining viable pathways for children who continue to require support outside formal eligibility settings.

ECA currently receives approximately 500-550 referrals each month, while our funded capacity is around 313 children per month.

Our experience suggests that demand for developmental supports already exceeds available capacity. As a more accessible, needs-based model that does not rely on diagnosis, Thriving Kids is

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likely to increase demand further. While it represents an important reform, additional investment in Foundational Supports is likely to be required if the needs of all children and families are to be met.

Varied pathways of support

Responding to this level and diversity of need requires a range of support options.

As demand increases, tiered models of support will become increasingly important. Children and families should receive the right support, at the right intensity, for the duration of need, rather than a prescribed number of sessions.

A sustainable Foundational Supports system will need a mix of information and advice, group programs, short-term supports, targeted intervention and specialist pathways, with the flexibility to adjust support as circumstances change.

The Benevolent Society’s Early Supports programs use universal, targeted and individualised tiers to match support to each child’s goals, needs and complexity. This model directs resources where they are most needed while extending support to a broader range of children and families.

This model demonstrates how a targeted tier can bridge the gap between universal or group support and individual therapy. It provides individualised allied health input without defaulting to a standard block of sessions, illustrating how commissioning can match the type and intensity of support to functional need.

Moving through these tiers requires a dedicated gateway that combines structured intake, evidence- informed decision-making, professional judgement and smart technology.

Currently, through the ECA, referrals are received through an online referral form where families provide information about developmental concerns and can upload supporting documentation. Families then complete developmental screening using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ).

Our Child and Family Practitioners review this information using a structured triage matrix that considers screening results, the number and nature of developmental concerns, family priorities, referral source and available supporting evidence. For children under two years, the reviews are conducted by experienced allied health clinicians, recognising that developmental needs present differently across age groups and may require different expertise.

Following initial triage and review, The Benevolent Society’s Goals, Pathways and Support (GPS) model was developed in recognition that referral information and screening alone is often insufficient. The GPS model combines further developmental screening with practitioner-led conversations that explore family goals, strengths and priorities.

The practitioners use this information to match families to the most appropriate level of support, which may include information and advice, supported playgroups, short-term intervention, developmental supports, specialist assessment or referral to other services.

All additional information recorded through these processes is used to refine decisions and service offerings.

Families should not be required to repeat their story or restart assessment when moving between programs; relevant information should follow the child, subject to consent and appropriate privacy safeguards.

Technology can improve the efficiency and accessibility of intake and triage, but it cannot replace clinical judgement.

The gateway should be designed around the help-seeking experience and make engagement straightforward, positive and flexible.

Families should be able to choose between human and digital channels, access support beyond standard business hours where feasible, and use translated or otherwise accessible options that reflect different communication preferences and family circumstances.

Where families cannot be offered immediate support, services should maintain proactive contact, explain the next steps and expected timeframes, and provide practical resources and connections to interim community supports. This approach can reduce uncertainty and enable families to begin using helpful strategies while they wait.

Inequities in service access

Intake and triage must recognise and respond to barriers that affect how families identify concerns, seek support and participate in services.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, culturally and linguistically diverse families, families experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, and families living in rural and regional communities may experience additional barriers created by service design, communication approaches and the availability of local supports.

Families may also have different understandings of child development, disability, family roles, parenting practices and engagement with health, education and social services. They may also have different levels of awareness of developmental milestones, confidence in raising concerns and familiarity with available supports.

A needs-based early intervention system must therefore engage families before they reach a formal referral point. This includes building awareness of child development, supporting developmental milestone checks and creating trusted opportunities to identify and discuss concerns early.

For our practitioners, effective triage relies on routinely connecting and collaborating with hospitals, child health services, schools, family support coordinators, multicultural organisations and Early Years Places to help families participate meaningfully, understand available pathways and remain connected to services over time.

Foundational Supports should therefore incorporate culturally responsive outreach, engagement and awareness activities that support early identification of developmental concerns and improve access to support for children and families who may be less likely to engage through traditional referral pathways.

Staff insight: “There are lots of situations where that on-the-phone assessment is not a good representation of the needs of the child and their family.”

What this means for Foundational Supports

Foundational Supports should be designed to respond to different levels and types of need, rather than assuming a single service response will be appropriate for all families.

As Thriving Kids is implemented, a dedicated and specialised gateway should combine developmental screening, evidence-informed decision-making frameworks, professional judgement and accessible technology to connect families to the most appropriate pathways and intensity of support.

Investment in navigation, pathway management and outreach activities will be critical to ensuring children and families can access support early, move between services as their needs change, and avoid falling through gaps in the system.

Recommendations

1. Commission a dedicated intake and triage gateway that combines accessible technology, evidence-informed decision-support frameworks and clinical judgement, with allied health professionals involved in system design, validation, monitoring and continuous improvement.

2. Design Foundational Supports to proactively identify, engage and support children and families who may otherwise miss out, including through awareness-raising activities, culturally responsive outreach and activities that recognise different understandings of child development, disability, parenting and engagement with services.

3. Monitor demand, waitlists, referral outcomes, service intensity, duration and exits to assess whether children and families are receiving the right support at the right time and for the duration of need, or whether unmet need is emerging elsewhere in the system.

4. Establish mechanisms to review and adjust Foundational Supports investment over time in response to emerging demand, service utilisation and unmet need.

Priority Area 3. Family-centred Practice

Family-centred, relationship-focused practice is central to sustaining outcomes for children and families.

Consistent with the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention, children achieve the strongest outcomes when support is embedded in their everyday relationships, routines and environments and when families are recognised as partners in the intervention process.¹

At The Benevolent Society, family-centred practice is delivered through a relationship-focused approach that recognises strong parent-child relationships as a foundation for child development and functional outcomes.

Our approach involves understanding what is meaningful to the family, identifying goals that reflect the child’s and family’s priorities, working to strengthen the parent-child relationship and leveraging this responsive and attuned relationship to embed developmental strategies within everyday routines and interactions.

Meaningful and lasting change is most likely to occur when the parent-child relationship is optimised and families are actively involved and supported to use strategies through their everyday lives. This is particularly important where supports are community-based, lower intensity or time limited.

A predominantly clinic-based, one-to-one model is not the most efficient or sustainable response for all children and families need the confidence, knowledge and practical skills to continue supporting development beyond formal service involvement.

Staff insight: “When parents are involved and we build intervention into the everyday interactions a child has, and we upskill parents to have the knowledge and confidence to be supporting their children’s development, we know children will thrive.”

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¹ Moore, T., Imms, C., Luscombe, D., SNAICC authors, Bonyhady, B., Dimmock, K., Deane, K., D’Aprano, A., & Kakoschke-Moore, S. (2025). National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention. The University of Melbourne. Commissioned by the Commonwealth of Australia’s Department of Social Services.

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Transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary key worker models provide practical ways to deliver family-centred practice within Foundational Supports.

Foundational Supports should prioritise models in which one consistent practitioner acts as the primary point of contact for families while drawing on the expertise of a broader specialised team.

This “key worker” supports shared planning, delivers agreed strategies in everyday environments, coordinates multidisciplinary input and brings questions or emerging concerns back to the broader team.

In a multidisciplinary model, several practitioners from different disciplines may assess or support the same child separately. In a transdisciplinary model, the team integrates its expertise through one key worker where it is safe and appropriate to do so. The appropriate model should be selected according to the child’s circumstances, including whether direct discipline-specific support is required.

A well-designed key worker approach gives families a simpler, more consistent relationship, reduces fragmentation and duplicated appointments, and makes more effective use of limited public funding while retaining specialist safeguards.

A transdisciplinary model must retain access to discipline-specific assessment and intervention where required. The key worker should have qualifications and expertise aligned with the child’s primary needs and work within their professional competence, supported by regular case conferencing, consultation and shared planning across disciplines.

This model should not be used to substitute qualified practitioners with an inadequately trained or supported generalist workforce.

Our InSync pilot program demonstrated how family-centred, relationship-focused support can build parent confidence and facilitate developmental outcomes.

The Benevolent Society piloted InSync across sites in NSW and South Australia using a parent-child relationship-focused, transdisciplinary key worker model to provide early intervention for children aged 0-7 years with developmental delay or disability.

Supports were goal-directed and delivered over three to six months in the child and family’s natural environments.

Families were supported by a key worker who remained their primary point of contact while drawing on the expertise of a broader multidisciplinary team.

The first session focused on understanding the family’s longer-term hopes for their child, identifying priorities for the coming months, developing shared functional goals, discussing the importance of the parent-child relationship in optimising child development and clarifying the respective roles of the family and key worker in achieving these goals.

The families then received coordinated support in home, community and early learning settings, with strategies specifically targeted at strengthening the parent-child relationship and leveraging this relationship to embed functional strategies surrounding play, communication, self-care and participation within daily routines and everyday environments.

The model relied on practitioners being equipped with transdisciplinary skills, supported by regular case conferencing, reflective and clinical supervision and access to specialist expertise where required, enabling families to receive coordinated support without needing to navigate multiple separate services.

An evaluation of the program found statistically significant improvements in family-prioritised goals. Across participating children receiving supports, 75% achieved or exceeded their expected goals.

Parents and practitioners also reported increased caregiver confidence, stronger parent-child interactions, improved understanding of children’s needs and greater use of strategies within everyday routines.

What this means for Foundational Supports

For time-limited, lower-intensity and community-based supports to be effective, Foundational Supports should use transdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches according to assessed need. They should be focused on strengthening parent-child relationships and building the confidence, knowledge and practical skills that allow families to continue supporting their child’s development after the service has concluded.

Success should be measured not only by child outcomes, but also by whether families feel confident, informed and equipped to support their child’s ongoing development.

Recommendations:

1. Embed family-centred practice, with an emphasis on strengthening parent-child relationships, as a core delivery principle across all Foundational Supports, recognising parents and carers as active partners in achieving and sustaining child outcomes beyond formal service involvement.

2. Prioritise transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary models when commissioning services, selecting the approach according to the child’s circumstances and need for direct discipline-specific support.

3. Develop and implement a Key Worker Framework for children and families with assessed needs for additional coordination, providing a consistent practitioner across intake, support planning, service connection and transition.

4. Require Foundational Supports programs to measure family outcomes alongside child outcomes, including parent and carer confidence, family wellbeing, connection to appropriate supports, and the extent to which families feel informed, supported and involved in their child’s development and support planning.

Conclusion

The Benevolent Society supports the opportunity to provide children and families earlier, needs-based support.

Thriving Kids is an opportunity for the NSW Government to turn the ambition of Foundational Supports into a working model and establish approaches that can be scaled across the broader system.

We want to work with government to get the foundations right. This will require building on trusted community infrastructure, enabling children and families to move between supports as their needs change, and intervening early, before needs escalate.

Success will ultimately be measured by what families experience. Can they find help? Can they get it early? Do services work together around them? And are we reaching children and families who have historically faced the greatest barriers to support?

If we get those fundamentals right, Foundational Supports can deliver a more effective system for children and families.