Submission to the NDIS Support Coordination and Connection Reform Consultation
September 2026
Contact details
For more information, please contact:
Karen Dimmock CEO, ACD
e: karend@acd.org.au
Helen Nys CEO, Kiind
e: helen.nys@kiind.com.au
Stacey Touma CEO, Belongside Families
e: stacey@belongsidefamilies.org.au
Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Include family and carer wellbeing and sustaining informal supports as a core objective of the new Support Coordination and Connection service model.
Recommendation 2: Offer all children and families with access to Support Coordination and Connection services for their first NDIS plan, recognising the value of early support during a critical period of adjustment and system navigation.
Recommendation 3: Recognise family circumstances in Support Coordination and Connection service eligibility and levels of support, acknowledging that parents and carers are primarily responsible for implementing and managing a child’s NDIS plan.
Recommendation 4: Retain specialised child and family-centred support coordination within the Support Coordination and Connection service through dedicated commissioning arrangements or requirements for commissioned services to provide child and family-focused support coordination.
Recommendation 5: Require support coordinators working with children and families to demonstrate skills and knowledge consistent with the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention.
Recommendation 6: Require commissioned Support Coordination and Connection services to partner with family-led organisations to offer group-based, peer-led sessions for families on getting started with the NDIS, helping families build local informal networks, strengthen capacity, and access trusted sources of advice and support. All families whose child receives a first NDIS plan should be offered access to this support through their region’s commissioned Support Coordination and Connection provider.
Introduction
The Child and Family Disability Alliance (CAFDA) is a national partnership of not-for-profit family-led organisations: ACD, Kiind and Belongside Families.
Together, we support more than 30,000 families and carers raising children with all kinds of disability and developmental delay across Australia.
Our shared vision is to empower parents and caregivers with the knowledge, skills and connections they need so their families and children can thrive. We work by building the capacity and wellbeing of parents and carers through our well-established and proven model providing information, skills building and peer support.
CAFDA welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the consultation on the NDIS Support Coordination and Connection Reform and provide our insights into the experiences of children and their families.
This consultation and the broader NDIS reforms must recognise that supporting a child or young person is inherently different to supporting an adult, with support delivered through their families and carers. Support coordination should focus on equipping and enabling parents and carers to implement and manage supports for their child.
Families consistently report to CAFDA that navigating the NDIS service system is stressful, time-intensive and costly. They also face challenges finding quality providers that meet their child’s goals and needs and managing plan budgets in a way that reflects the realities of family life, including periods of increased support need.
Support coordination plays a critical role in helping families navigate services, make the best use of their plans, and build their own capacity. We recommend the following considerations for the commissioning and design of the new Support Coordination and Connection service to ensure these benefits are retained and that the system works effectively for children and their families.
Designing Support Coordination and Connection for children and families
Recognise family and carer wellbeing and sustaining informal supports through the service model
Recommendation 1: Include family and carer wellbeing and sustaining informal supports as a core objective of the new Support Coordination and Connection service model.
Children do well when families are supported. Parents and carers play a central role in implementing and managing supports for children, and the sustainability of these informal supports has a direct impact on a child’s outcomes. The new Support Coordination and Connection service model should include family and carer wellbeing and sustaining informal supports as an explicit objective.
This should include supporting families to coordinate a child’s funded supports in ways that reflect family circumstances and changing needs. For example, a child with 10 hours of core support per week may be best supported through five hours per week during school terms and 20 hours per week during school holidays, reflecting periods of increased family need.
Support early and at a critical time
Recommendation 2: Offer all children and families with access to Support Coordination and Connection services for their first NDIS plan, recognising the value of early support during a critical period of adjustment and system navigation.
For many families, a child’s first NDIS plan is received while they are still learning about their child’s disability, adjusting to a recent diagnosis, and navigating multiple service systems for the first time. These factors can make it difficult to fully utilise plans and achieve intended outcomes.
The early stages of a family’s NDIS journey are a critical time for Support Coordination and Connection. Many families may be unsure what supports are available or what constitutes best practice early childhood intervention.
Early support can help families make effective use of plan funding, navigate complex systems, connect with evidence-based supports, and build confidence over time. All children and families should have access to Support Coordination and Connection with their first NDIS plan under the new model.
Recognise family circumstances in eligibility
Recommendation 3: Recognise family circumstances in Support Coordination and Connection service eligibility and levels of support, acknowledging that parents and carers are primarily responsible for implementing and managing a child’s NDIS plan.
Parents and carers are primarily responsible for implementing and managing a child’s NDIS plan. Their circumstances can significantly affect their capacity to access, coordinate and maintain supports. Eligibility for Support Coordination and Connection services, and the level of support provided, should therefore take family circumstances into account.
Family circumstances that should be considered when determining eligibility and an increased level of Support Coordination and Connection include:
- Low plan utilisation
- Supporting multiple children with disability or developmental delay
- A parent or carer having disability or a mental health condition
- Involvement with family services, child protection, out-of-home care or family violence services
- Additional barriers to accessing and navigating the services systems and finding appropriate supports, including barriers related to culture, language or geography.
Retain specialised child and family-centred support coordination
Recommendation 4: Retain specialised child and family-centred support coordination within the Support Coordination and Connection service through dedicated commissioning arrangements or requirements for commissioned services to provide child and family-focused support coordination.
Recommendation 5: Require support coordinators working with children and families to demonstrate skills and knowledge consistent with the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention.
In the current model, specialist child and family-focused providers have a nuanced understanding of the needs of children and families and what experienced child focused services are available in the local area. These providers are highly valued by families and play an important role in helping them navigate service systems and access the right supports.
The new Support Coordination and Connection service should retain and build on this expertise through mechanisms such as commissioning dedicated child and family providers within regions or requiring commissioned services to provide a dedicated child and family-focused stream of support coordination. This will help ensure support coordination remains fit for purpose for children and families, and that their needs are not overlooked within a predominantly adult-oriented service model.
The reform also provides an opportunity to ensure support coordinators working with children and their families have the skills and knowledge to apply the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention in their practice.
Strengthen family capacity through peer connection and informal support networks
Recommendation 6: Require commissioned Support Coordination and Connection services to partner with family-led organisations to offer group-based, peer-led sessions for families on getting started with the NDIS, helping families build local informal networks, strengthen capacity, and access trusted sources of advice and support. All families whose child receives a first NDIS plan should be offered access to this support through their region’s commissioned Support Coordination and Connection provider.
Across our work, families consistently tell us about the immense value of peer support and connections with other families. These relationships help families understand the NDIS, find supports and services, and navigate family life with a child or children with disability. However, many families, particularly in the early years following the identification of developmental delay or diagnosis of disability, do not have established networks they can draw upon.
While individual support coordination plays a critical role in assisting families, the individualised nature of the NDIS has reduced some of the opportunities for families to connect and build informal networks that existed through pre-NDIS support systems. As support coordination services move to a regionally commissioned model, there is an opportunity to complement individual support with group-based, peer-led information sessions, delivered in partnership with family-led organisations, that bring local families together.
These connections can help families develop informal networks that build confidence and capacity over time. They also provide trusted sources of information and advice, helping families navigate service systems more independently in the longer term.