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

Organisation: Disability Council of NSW

Date Received: 28 July 2026

Our ref: D26/2058016

28 July 2026

Delivered by email to disabilitysupports@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Disability Council of NSW

Supplementary Submission to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales

Introduction

The Disability Council NSW welcomes the opportunity to provide a supplementary submission to the Inquiry into Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales.

The Disability Council NSW is established under the Disability Inclusion Act 2014 as the NSW Government’s independent advisory body on disability inclusion. The Council advises the Minister on issues affecting people with disability and promotes the inclusion of people with disability in all aspects of community life.

This submission should be read together with the Council’s earlier submission. It focuses on one issue that has become increasingly important as the design of Thriving Kids and foundational supports has progressed. This issue is how governments will know whether the reforms are working.

The Council welcomes the Committee’s interim report. It provides a strong foundation for reform and rightly emphasises early intervention, community-based supports, co-design, improved navigation and better data.

The next stage should focus on implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement.

Build evaluation into the reforms

Thriving Kids represents a major change in the way children and families will access support. Success should be measured by whether children receive the right support, at the right time, through the right service. Governments should monitor outcomes throughout implementation and use the results to improve the model as it develops.

Evaluation should measure:

whether children receive support earlier
whether families can navigate the system more easily
whether children are participating more fully in education and community life
whether outcomes improve for children and families
whether fewer children fall through gaps between systems.
the extent to which funded services are sustainable and adequately resourced to achieve positive outcomes for children and young people with disability

The Council also encourages NSW and the Australian Government to develop common outcome measures wherever possible. Children move between health, education, community services, foundational supports and, for some, the NDIS. Evaluation should follow the child’s journey across those systems rather than assessing each program separately.

This will help governments identify where support is working well, where gaps remain and where changes are needed.

Where possible, outcome measures should align with national disability data collections so that governments can better understand long-term outcomes and use consistent evidence to improve disability policy across Australia.

Strengthen mainstream inclusion

The Disability Council NSW has consistently supported stronger mainstream inclusion through Disability Inclusion Action Planning.

The Council supports the intention of foundational supports to strengthen mainstream services so that children with disability can participate alongside their peers wherever possible.

This includes early childhood education, schools, health services, recreation, arts, libraries and community programs.

However, mainstream inclusion cannot simply be assumed. If mainstream services are not ready, children may lose access to specialist supports without gaining genuine inclusion in mainstream settings. Governments should therefore measure whether mainstream services are becoming more inclusive in practice. This should include whether:

children are participating successfully
families feel welcomed and supported
mainstream services have the skills and resources they need
specialist supports remain available when mainstream services cannot meet a child’s needs.

The Council’s experience with Disability Inclusion Action Planning is that inclusion improves when governments measure outcomes, identify barriers and continue to refine their approach.

The same principle should apply to foundational supports.

Continue testing what works

The Council welcomes the significant investment being made in Thriving Kids and foundational supports. As implementation progresses, governments should continue to test whether different service models are achieving better outcomes for children and families. Existing providers bring valuable expertise and trusted community relationships. These strengths should continue to inform the reform process. Governments should also remain open to new approaches where evidence shows they achieve better outcomes. Future commissioning and funding decisions should be guided by evidence of effectiveness rather than historical funding patterns alone.

Stay connected with children and families

Families should receive clear information about the supports available in their local area if their child is not eligible for the NDIS or transitions from the NDIS to foundational supports. Families should also know where to seek assistance if those supports are unavailable or do not meet their child’s needs.

The Council recommends that governments provide families with the opportunity to remain connected to the broader support system through voluntary registration and periodic follow-up. This would:

help families navigate available supports
identify children who cannot access appropriate services
provide an avenue to report gaps in support
strengthen evaluation of Thriving Kids and foundational supports.

No child should disappear from view simply because responsibility has shifted between systems.

Learn from implementation

Implementation should be treated as an ongoing learning process. Governments should publish regular implementation reports that describe:

progress in rolling out services
outcomes for children and families
service gaps
unintended consequences
improvements made in response to evidence and feedback.

Governments should also establish simple and accessible feedback mechanisms for children, families, representative organisations and service providers. Feedback should be used to improve policy, funding and service delivery throughout implementation. This will help identify problems early and reduce the risk of children falling through gaps.

Recommendations

The Disability Council NSW recommends that the NSW Government, working with the Australian Government:

Develop a shared evaluation framework for Thriving Kids and foundational supports that measures outcomes for children and families across health, education, community services, foundational supports and the NDIS.
Measure mainstream inclusion by assessing whether mainstream services are becoming more accessible, inclusive and capable of supporting children with disability, while ensuring specialist supports remain available where required.
Provide families with clear information and ongoing support when children do not enter, or transition from, the NDIS, including the opportunity to remain connected through voluntary registration and follow-up.
Publish regular implementation reports identifying outcomes, service gaps, unintended consequences and improvements made in response to evidence.
Establish strong feedback mechanisms for children, families, representative organisations and service providers and use this information to guide continuous improvement.
Use evaluation findings to guide future policy, commissioning and funding decisions, ensuring that investment continues to be directed towards the approaches that achieve the best outcomes for children and families.

Conclusion

The Council supports the objective of providing children with the right support at the right time.

Achieving this objective will require governments to work together, monitor outcomes across systems and respond quickly where gaps emerge.

The Council believes the long-term success of Thriving Kids will depend on governments treating implementation as an ongoing process of learning and improvement.

Children and families should experience a system that is connected, inclusive and responsive to their needs. Governments should be able to demonstrate, through evidence and regular reporting, that the reforms are delivering those outcomes.

Yours faithfully

Jane Spring AM Gail Le Bransky PSM Chair Deputy Chair