FLYING FOX

Thriving Kids Inquiry Submission

Flying Fox Services Limited.

Title: Supporting Thriving Kids: A Community-Centered Approach to Inclusion and Empowerment

Submitting Organisation: Flying Fox (ABN: 26 865 216 076) Website: www.flyingfox.org.au

Contact Person: Dean Cohen

Contact Details: redacted | redacted

Date of Submission: 2nd October, 2025

To Whom It May Concern,

Flying Fox is a community-driven organisation dedicated to creating inclusive, fun, and social opportunities for young people with disability. We have a deep commitment to supporting children and their families to feel connected, valued, and empowered within their communities. Through our programs, we’ve seen firsthand how the right supports at the right time can make a transformative difference in the lives of children with disability. With this experience in mind, we are eager to contribute to the Thriving Kids initiative.

In whatever form Thriving Kids eventually takes, we trust that the individual and their families will be placed at the centre of every decision made.

We are not writing to critique the system. Rather, we wish to offer a focus and direction that we believe should sit at the heart of Thriving Kids.

One clear priority is the need for more peer supports for children with disability and neurodivergence. Peer support means providing children with opportunities to build meaningful connections with their classmates and peers in the community, beyond structured therapeutic settings. It’s about creating environments where children are supported to form friendships, practice social skills, and develop the emotional resilience needed to navigate social situations. This kind of social inclusion and peer interaction can significantly reduce isolation and the stigma that often surrounds disability. Peer relationships promote belonging, and when children have a chance to connect with others, they gain confidence and build skills that last a lifetime.

Another essential focus must be a strong emphasis on education and services during the early years of school. While early childhood programs and intervention services are crucial, we know from experience that the period between five and eight years old is a critical time for social and academic development. This is when the social divides between children with disability and their neurotypical peers can deepen if not addressed. If we focus on these years, we can prevent exclusion, reduce bullying, and normalise inclusion from the start of a child’s educational journey.

To achieve this, Thriving Kids has the opportunity to focus on providing strong support for teachers and educating mainstream students on how to build

inclusive schools by embracing difference. Teachers should be equipped with the tools, training, and confidence to create more inclusive classrooms, while students should be educated and encouraged to understand and appreciate diversity, ensuring that every child is celebrated, welcomed and valued regardless of their individual needs.

We also believe that these programs, and others that emerge through the Thriving Kids submissions and community consultation, should be delivered by local community organisations like Flying Fox and other trusted providers. These organisations are already deeply connected to the communities they serve and are in touch with the individual participants and families. This connection ensures that the services are not only relevant but also responsive to the lived experiences and unique needs of each child and family.

We acknowledge that Flying Fox is not a research body or policy institute. Our strength lies in our track record of grassroots community engagement. To ensure Thriving Kids is evidence-based and credible, we believe that research partners such as the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University, and others with deep expertise, should be engaged from the beginning to guide evaluation and policy translation.

At its core, Thriving Kids is an opportunity to build systems around children and their families – not the other way around. It can show what is possible when schools, communities, and parents are supported to embed inclusion in everyday life.

Once again, we emphasise our trust that the individual will be positioned at the centre, and that the intent will always be to ensure that people with disability are given the supports – and the agency to choose those supports – to live full and connected lives.

Kind regards,

Dean Cohen OAM
Founder & Co-CEO, Flying Fox

Giulia Belleflamme
Co-CEO, Flying Fox