NDIA Accountability Project

Evidence-based early childhood intervention and the first 1,000 days

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Submission
No 132

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

Organisation: EarlyEd
Date Received: 18 September 2026

SUBMISSION

Inquiry into Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales — September 2026

Earlyed

Early intervention for children with disability

Evidence-based early childhood intervention and the first 1,000 days

Submitted by Kerry Dominish, Chief Executive Officer
Organisation Early Education (EarlyEd) Inc

Focus Evidence-based early childhood intervention and the first 1,000 days

EarlyEd is grateful for the opportunity to comment on the research and recommendations presented to the Committee. This submission supports the direction of reform and highlights areas where continued focus will help achieve the intended outcomes for children and families.

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Executive summary

EarlyEd supports the proposed direction of Thriving Kids and the emphasis on outcomes, culturally responsive, family-centred and strengths-based practice, accessibility, delivery in everyday settings, integrated services and a skilled workforce.

However, when reviewing the papers EarlyEd wanted to highlight the importance of two principles that are essential in the response to the planning and implementation of the recommendations for Thriving Kids:

  1. Embed and evaluate evidence-based early childhood intervention, as identified in the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention.

  2. Ensure timely support and services are available for infants / toddlers during their first 1,000 days, before developmental gaps widen and capacity build their families if they are then required to navigate systems.

1. Scope of this submission

This submission addresses the terms of reference relating to the role, availability, accessibility and quality of early childhood intervention; gaps and barriers; collaboration; best practice; workforce competencies; and implementation of foundational supports for children under the age of 8 years but particularly ages 0-3 years.

EarlyEd’s comments on the recommendations focus on:

  • the use of the evidenced-based National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention as the shared practice foundation for early childhood intervention and Thriving Kids services in NSW,
  • maintaining a clear first 1,000 days priority, including consideration of a “bridging to home” pathway from neonatal and maternity services to local family-centred early childhood intervention,
  • building on established, trusted and place-based organisations to support no wrong-door access and warm connections across mainstream, community, early childhood intervention (ECI) and NDIS supports,
  • developing a skilled workforce with capability to deliver evidence-based, family-centred practice in homes and everyday settings,
  • keeping children safe, and
  • creating a funded NSW coordination mechanism, informed by the former Early Childhood Intervention Coordination Program, to connect health, education, disability and community services.

2. Why this focus is needed

The concerning trends identified by 2024 Australian Early Development Census suggests that changes are needed to how we are providing early supports. Nationally, 23.5% of children were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains and 12.5% on two or more. In NSW, vulnerability on one or more domains increased from 21.2% in 2021 to 21.8% in 2024, and vulnerability on two or more domains increased from 10.5% to 11.2%. Only 54.2% of NSW children were on track across all five domains.

The NDDA NSW Early Childhood Test Case shows that disability identification accumulates from birth to age seven, with relatively few children identified in infancy and a sharper rise in the preschool years.

These two studies, along with others evaluating the effectiveness of early childhood interventions, support having a stronger focus on early recognition and connection to offer identification and support during the first 1,000 days rather than 2,000 days. The Thriving Kids approach provides an opportunity to ensure access does not depend on a family’s time, resources, digital access, English proficiency or confidence.

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3. Responses to the relevant recommendations

Recommendation 3: Support for families

Children aged 0-2 years and their families, carers, or kin need programs that match the reality of family life with a young child. Formal group programs can be challenging for young families.

Bridging to home approaches after babies have been in special needs care can help establish a new family unit that has experienced a disrupted start. Support through appropriate ECI will identify developmental risks for infants particularly in the areas of movement, play, engagement, early communication and feeding.

Recommendation 5: Regional, rural, remote access and thin markets

Build on locally anchored teams, supported by telepractice, outreach and regional specialist networks, so infants and families in regional, rural and remote areas can receive proactive follow-up and timely support.

Telepractice can extend relationships and specialist expertise while using local services to create face-to-face support where it is needed. This approach should be strengthened through evidence-based service delivery coaching, workforce training, Supervision and communities of practice, so practitioners are supported to provide the specialised care infants need in line with the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention.

Recommendations 6, 7 and 8: Culturally responsive access to supports

Clearly defined access and referral touch points for Thriving Kids in NSW is an important goal, but this requires measures in place to secure collaboration and “open doors” by health, education and disability sectors. Otherwise, families will find navigating systems challenging and access to services will be delayed.

The introduction of funded networking programs that support communication and collaboration across sectors will reduce the use of siloed approaches. The networks could be modelled on the ADHC funded Early Childhood Intervention Coordination Project groups that were in place prior to the NDIS in New South Wales.

“No wrong doors” will ensure families can access culturally responsive support when they need it, through places and the people they trust. This can facilitate connections to specialised and other mainstream services. This is an essential approach if we are going to overcome the barriers we know exist for our multicultural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

Recommendation 11: Evidence-based services, monitoring and evaluation

Commitment to evidence-based services will increase the likelihood that supports reduce risks to

children’s health, wellbeing, safety and development, while also improving outcomes for families. The National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention provides recognised resources, research and guidance that can support workforce training in the principles and practices of effective early childhood intervention. It can also guide how services are delivered, monitored and evaluated, and how the sector contributes to ongoing research and continuous improvement into the future.

Recommendations 13 and 15: Early learning and development

Continue to recognise the critical role of parents and carers in a child’s life and the importance of support starting from infancy.

Flexible options can include home visiting, coaching in everyday routines, supported playgroups, toy libraries, library programs, peer support and practical information through maternal and child health and hospital follow-up. These accessible pathways can build family capability and connect families to specialist ECI when needed.

Recommendation 14: Workforce competency in ECI

The Australian government is supporting the implementation of the National Best Practise Framework for Early Childhood Intervention. Thriving Kids NSW has an ideal opportunity to support workforce engagement and to create a strong competent workforce. It could define core and role-specific competencies; recognise the specialised skills of early childhood educators, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers and other disciplines working in ECl; support professional development, supervision and coaching; and link provider compliance to demonstrate practice capability.

4. About EarlyEd

EarlyEd across its 47 years has developed experience focused on delivering early childhood intervention (ECl), family capacity building, community partnerships, group programs, playgroups, and community-based supports for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and young children at school, with low to moderate support needs, children that have long-term need for specialised support and children when there are concerns about their development but do not yet have a diagnosis. This includes children at risk of developmental delay due to birth, health, wellbeing or environmental concerns.

EarlyEd has a well-established early childhood intervention team with the experience to specifically support children aged 0-8 years and their families and capacity building mainstream services to include these children. EarlyEd brings its experience delivering supported playgroups, peer support programs such as MyTime, a toy library, group capacity building training for parents and the community and individual NDIS supports to the insights provided in this submission as well as current evidence in ECI.

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5. Conclusion

EarlyEd welcomes the direction of the recommendations and the opportunity for NSW to build an effective system of support. The direction can be strengthened by maintaining focus on the National Best Practice Framework, the first 1,000 days, trusted local relationships, the established ECI sector, workforce competency, cross-sector coordination, data and independent evaluation.

These foundations will help children and families receive timely support in the places where they live, learn and play, without needing a diagnosis or exceptional advocacy to open the door.

Interest in future involvement in Thriving Kids design

Kerry Dominish would be pleased to accept an invitation to give evidence at a future hearing or contribute to other opportunities to explore evidence-based early childhood intervention and preventative approaches for infants, toddlers and their families.

References

  1. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention. View source

  2. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Framework information for families and carers. View source

  3. Australian Early Development Census. 2024 AEDC National Report. View source

  4. Green, M. J. et al. (2022). NSW Early Childhood Test Case: Prevalence, Supports and Outcomes for children with disability in New South Wales. View source

  5. Moore, T. G. et al. (2017). The First Thousand Days: An Evidence Paper. View source

  6. NSW Parliamentary Research Service. Foundational and disability supports available for children and young people in New South Wales.

  7. NSW Legislative Council. Terms of Reference: Inquiry into foundational and disability supports available for children and young people in New South Wales. Updated 5 December 2025.

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