Submission to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative
Introduction
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative. I write as both a parent and an advocate who has seen firsthand the consequences of an underfunded and under-resourced education system on children, families, and the broader disability support sector.
The Promise of Thriving Kids
The Thriving Kids program is a welcome step in addressing the needs of children with mild to moderate developmental concerns, and in providing foundational supports outside of the NDIS. By creating a national platform for early intervention, Thriving Kids has the potential to redirect children into appropriate early supports, while reserving the NDIS for those with permanent and significant disabilities. This is an important recalibration.
The Problem: Schools Are Not Equipped
However, the success of Thriving Kids will be limited unless education reform is addressed in parallel. Families are increasingly forced to turn to the NDIS not because their children’s needs are inherently suited to it, but because schools cannot meet their basic inclusion, learning, and wellbeing requirements.
Schools often lack specialist staff, training, and funding to provide early or ongoing support.
Families are left with no choice but to seek external supports during already limited after-school hours.
The NDIS does not cover in-school time, leaving children unsupported where they spend most of their day.
As a result, families pursue Early Intervention and formal diagnoses simply to bridge the gap between their child’s distress and what schools are failing to provide.
I am in no way suggesting that there is not genuine need for the NDIS. Where a diagnosis is confirmed, the NDIS can be life changing. However, many families are entering the NDIS pathway not out of choice but out of necessity, to compensate for systemic educational shortcomings.
Data Misclassification and Hidden Needs
Current data compounds this problem. Children withdrawn from school due to a lack of support are too often categorised under “parent choice.” This mislabelling obscures the reality that families are acting to protect their child’s wellbeing and prevents policymakers from accurately understanding the scale of unmet need within schools.
Recommendations
To ensure Thriving Kids delivers on its promise and reduces inappropriate reliance on the NDIS, education reform must be integrated into its rollout:
- Embed foundational supports within schools o Provide schools with inclusion facilitators, psychologists, wellbeing staff, and teacher training in trauma-informed and inclusive practices.
o Ensure supports are delivered where children spend the majority of their day — inside schools.
- Integrate education, health, and disability systems
o Align Thriving Kids supports with school infrastructure, so services are not just available, but actively embedded in classrooms and playgrounds.
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Accurate and transparent absence recording o Reform attendance data collection to properly recognise forced withdrawals due to unmet needs. This transparency will allow for better policy responses and reduce stigma on families.
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Accountability and resourcing o Tie school funding and Department of Education accountability to measurable improvements in inclusion and student wellbeing outcomes.
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NDIS and in-school support clarity o Review the current restriction on NDIS-funded supports in schools to ensure children do not go without necessary assistance during school hours.
Conclusion
The Thriving Kids initiative has the potential to relieve pressure on the NDIS and deliver early supports where they are most needed. But unless our schools are reformed to provide inclusive, well-resourced, and accountable learning environments, families will continue to turn to the NDIS out of necessity, and the scheme will remain overwhelmed.
The sustainability of the NDIS, and the wellbeing of children, depend on building a stronger education system alongside new early intervention programs.
I appreciate this wont be the most detailed submission you receive, but it is one from a mother and advocate, service user and a lived experience of funding models for children with disabilities of various level of needs. I am happy to expand more if you feel it would be useful.
Jessica Smith – Mother to 2 primary school aged children and NDIS participants