Better health, Better lifestyles, Stronger communities

Submission to committee inquiry: Thriving Kids initiative

Submitted by: Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS)
Date: 3 October 2025

Background for this submission

At Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS), we strongly believe that well-designed reforms in the early childhood sector can deliver significantly better outcomes for children and their families. By building the capacity of families and strengthening the capability of mainstream and community services, and by providing the right supports early in a child’s life, these reforms can significantly reduce the need for ongoing and long term supports. This not only ensures that children receive the right support at the right time but also offers long-term value and sustainability for government investment in the NDIS.

LCHS brings deep and long-term expertise in early childhood development and intervention. Our multidisciplinary workforce is highly trained and experienced in delivering best practice early childhood services and supports. Our teams have professional qualifications and skills in allied health and early childhood education. We are grounded in evidence-based early childhood approaches and are committed to delivering family-centred, strengths-based support that empowers families and their children.

As one of Victoria’s leading Early Childhood Partners in the Community, LCHS has a proven track record of delivering early childhood intervention services across both metropolitan and regional areas. For over eight years, we have been a trusted provider supporting children and families across diverse communities. Our organisation has played a pivotal role in partnering with the NDIA to pilot and refine early childhood best practice tools and service delivery models. In addition, we have supported the capacity building of mainstream and community settings, such as early childhood education centres, long day care, schools, public libraries, leisure centres and community hubs ensuring children can access inclusive, developmentally appropriate environments where they live, learn, and play.

Our commitment to continuous improvement is reflected in our investment in research and innovation. We are actively engaged in a research project that could inform the development of a high-impact service model and contribute to shaping a future-focused vision for early childhood support systems. We understand what works well in both regional and metropolitan areas and the importance of implementing a funding model that allows

for best practice service delivery within these varied environments. LCHS has experience with scaling approaches that improve outcomes and equity across the state. Our highly skilled and regionally distributed workforce, existing partnerships, and deep community connections mean we have been able to adjust to changing environments over the years to ensure children and families remain central to the high-quality best practice service delivery model we have developed.

Introductory Statement

At the outset of our submission, we would like to emphasise the importance of the language that is used to define the “Thriving Kids” model. The terms used, such as “mild” versus “moderate” delays, “developmental concerns” versus “developmental delays”, and references to “lifelong disabilities” carry weight both in how they are understood and in how they are acted upon. The language we choose matters because it directly influences the supports families can access. Ultimately, what truly matters is that children and their families receive the right support at the right time.

‑‑‑

“Thriving Kids” should not be positioned as a fallback for children who are ineligible for the NDIS. If framed this way, it risks being seen as a consolation prize rather than a valued, outcome-focused support system in its own right. Instead, Thriving Kids should be understood as the pathway that enables children for a life of independence, rather than one dependent on ongoing supports.

For the model to succeed, families must have a clear and consistent point of contact. Families have repeatedly told us, through reviews and framework consultations, that one of their biggest frustrations is having to retell their story multiple times. The key contact role should therefore be filled by skilled, experienced professionals with strong expertise in early childhood development. These individuals must not only be able to provide specialised supports directly, but also connect families seamlessly to mainstream, community, and specialist services.

Finally, for Thriving Kids to achieve its intended impact, funding must be adequate and sustainable. Without the right level of investment, even the best-designed framework will fail to deliver on its promise. Adequate resourcing is essential to ensure timely access, quality supports, and equitable outcomes for children and families.

Based on our experience as an Early Childhood partner to the NDIA, we believe that an appropriate investment in intensive, but time limited, supports via Thriving Kids will not only achieve far better outcomes for many children and families, but it will also pay for itself manifold through significantly reduced need for lifetime supports

Beyond this introductory statement, the remainder of our submission directly responds to the Terms of Reference sections published in the request for responses.

Examine evidence-based information and resources that could assist parents identify if their child has mild to moderate development delay and support parents to provide support to these children.

Parents and carers play a vital role in recognising early signs of developmental delay, and they need access to clear, evidence-based information and resources to do so. A range of tools are currently available to support families in identifying mild to moderate developmental concerns,

including developmental screening tools, information on developmental milestones, and structured screening programs. However, these tools are most effective when combined with professional guidance and support, which helps build parents’ capacity to independently apply these strategies and foster long-term success.

At LCHS, our professionals use a range of well-established tools, such as PEDS-R® (Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status – Revised), Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3), and BRIGANCE® Early Childhood Screens. These may be applied in different ways - through parent interviews to explore daily routines and concerns, direct observations of children in natural environments such as home or childcare, or by reviewing relevant medical, educational, or therapy reports. Importantly, these tools are not diagnostic and are never used in isolation. Instead, they are valuable for opening conversations with families about their concerns and exploring potential next steps.

Building the capacity of families to recognise developmental concerns is essential. Too often, parents tell us they have been advised to “just wait and see” after raising concerns about their child’s development. Supporting parents at this early stage is critical; it allows them to build strategies into everyday routines that may prevent concerns from becoming delays.

One successful initiative at LCHS has been the delivery of developmental webinars led by speech pathologists, occupational therapists, early educators, and developmental psychologists. These sessions provide age-specific developmental information, followed by live Q&A opportunities. Beyond professional advice, families often exchange their own strategies, creating valuable peer-to-peer support, while professionals take on the role of facilitators.

Meeting families and children in their own environments is another effective approach. This not only helps families feel comfortable but also enables professionals to observe children within familiar routines. For example, our community hub-based screening program invites families and children to attend sessions at their childcare centre when a concern has been raised by either parents or educators. A multi-disciplinary team - including community health paediatric staff, NDIS Early Childhood partners, and child and family services - observe the child, speak with the family, and suggest appropriate supports or referrals. This collaborative, non-clinical approach has been very effective in engaging families early.

In summary, a team-around-the-child approach is crucial. For Thriving Kids to succeed, community and mainstream services must be aware of referral pathways and work closely with specialised supports. Families already navigate a complex service system, and this complexity increases when developmental concerns arise. It is not enough to simply provide tools to identify delays - we must also ensure that families are connected to the right supports, have a trusted point of contact, and are guided through the process with care and clarity.

Examine the effectiveness of current (and previous) programs and initiatives that identify children with development delay, autism or both, with mild to moderate support needs and support them and their families. This should focus on community and mainstream engagement, and include child and maternal health, primary care, allied health playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools.

Early childhood intervention is intended to give children with developmental delay or disability, and their families, supports to enable the child to have the best possible start in life. This includes children with autism. Through early childhood intervention, infants, young children and their

families can get specialised supports and services aimed at addressing any developmental challenges the child may be experiencing either directly, or as part of their natural environment. Although there are many different types of specialised programs that have been developed for different types of disability/developmental delay (some evidence based and some not), the fundamentals should remain the same.

Best practice recognises children learn and develop in natural, everyday settings. This includes their own home, and other places, such as childcare, playgroup or preschool, where they play with family or friends. This means the adults they are with need information, tools, and support to help the child’s development and participation.

Being included in these everyday activities gives children with developmental delay or disability the same opportunities as all children. It provides them with opportunities to develop friendships, interact with others and be a part of their community.

Effective support for children and families requires a best practice, evidence based and coordinated, multidisciplinary/transdisciplinary team, and family-centred approach. The “team around the child” model brings together all relevant services and supports across community and mainstream sectors to ensure the early and accurate identification of developmental concerns, clear referral and communication pathways between services, and integrated planning and service delivery tailored to the child and family’s needs. Services in this approach may include (but are not limited to):

Maternal and child health nurses
General practitioners and paediatricians
Allied health professionals (e.g. speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists)
Early learning educators
Playgroup facilitators
School teachers and wellbeing staff
Local community programs and family services

The most important part of the approach is that each child and family receive their own program that is individualised to their needs. Although the service model can be developed, each child and family should receive an individualised program. There is no “one size fits all” in a true best-practice model. Programs need to be developed based on the need for children and families to receive an individualised early supports program that is based on their developmental needs and goals, using the best practice early intervention model. While a genuine “team around the child” model may appear a significant investment, we believe it to be more modest than many would expect. Further, by investing appropriately in the short window when developmental concerns or delays are most easily addressed, we can potentially prevent years of ongoing support needs.

The National Guidelines for Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention (2016) have provided practitioners across Australia with a framework for excellence in service delivery. These guidelines were released in April 2016 and have four key quality areas including:

Family
- Family Centred and Strength Based Practice
- Culturally Responsive practice
Inclusion
- Inclusive Participatory Practice
- Engaging the Child in Natural Environments

Teamwork
- Inclusive Participatory Practice
- Engaging the Child in Natural Environments
Universal Principles
- Evidence Base, Standards, Accountability and Practice
- Outcome Based Approach

On 1st October 2025, the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention was endorsed and released. This Framework is now the official Framework endorsed by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Early childhood partners are local organisations originally funded by the NDIA to deliver the early childhood approach. Early childhood partners have teams of professionals with experience and clinical expertise in working with young children with developmental delay and/or disability and their families. LCHS and other partners have successfully proven that it is important to have specialist skills in early childhood intervention to deliver a successful early childhood approach such as “Thriving Kids”. There needs to be strong focus on delivering family-centred supports using a best practice model.

Regrettably, since the introduction of the NDIS, Early Childhood Partners have not been able to fully implement and deliver the early childhood approach as it was originally intended. There have been many reasons for this, beginning with the need to bring across “defined” children from state governments into the federal NDIS scheme and then the newly developing NDIS scheme constantly changing, growing and developing at a rapid rate. There have been various reviews and resets that have impacted on Early Childhood Partners’ ability to focus on the delivery of early supports.

Although the rapid change has been necessary, it has often created a shift of focus from the original intent of the early childhood approach; moving the focus largely to access and planning pathways. This has had a significant impact on the early childhood services’ ability to focus on any other area of service development or innovation.

Wider implications of this are, regrettably, that community expectations have now been embedded. This includes that a funded NDIS plan is seen by many as the only good outcome for their child. For “Thriving Kids” to be successful, we need to help with a cultural shift so that families of children with developmental concerns and professionals in the sector recognise the value of supports outside of a funded NDIS plan. In fact, we believe that providing the right supports, at the right level of support, in the critical period of early development can lead to far more positive outcomes for children and their families.

However, these time-limited supports need to be funded at adequate levels and be delivered by skilled and appropriately trained professionals. They need to be outcome focused and have a coordinated “team around the child” approach, encompassing a whole of service system approach, ensuring services are not working in silos, but are working together to support the child and family to build capacity and meet genuine outcomes.

LCHS is currently actively seeking engagement in a research project¹ for an early supports model that will:

¹ At the time of this submission, we are waiting on formal NDIA authorisation to commence the project. Authorisation is needed as, for the children involved in the research project, their pathway will differ from normal NDIS pathways.

Provide families with an evidence based early supports program that meets the needs of their child
Provide faster and streamlined access to appropriate supports at the right time
Decrease the need for sometimes unnecessary and costly formal assessments
Reduce the number of children requiring access to the scheme
Reduce the current focus that is placed on money and put the focus back onto the supports that a child and family need

The Research Project consists of the following elements:

A strong focus on ensuring children and their families are linked with their local community through appropriate community and mainstream supports
The family is central to all services and supports and an individualised ‘Early Support Plan’ is developed with the family based on the goals that are the most important to them and their child at that point in time. Goals are small, measurable and achievable and have steps that can be celebrated on the way to the final goal outcome
We will build a team with the family to support the child and build capacity to learn new skills within everyday life
Where appropriate, some elements of peer-to-peer support are included. Families may come together to connect with one another, share information and share strategies that they have used successfully
Supports are always provided in the child’s most familiar settings such as the home, kindergarten and childcare
We continually communicate with the family about what is working well, and what is not, so that strategies can be adjusted to support the child and family to achieve their goals
We build a culture of accomplishment when a child’s agreed developmental goals can be addressed without the need for long term NDIS supports.
The program includes pre and post evaluation measures

Strong engagement with community and mainstream services will be key to the success of Thriving Kids. To ensure that children with developmental concerns and delays are well supported, community and mainstream services need be inclusive and welcoming environments and understand how to best support inclusion.

LCHS has successfully supported access and inclusion through mainstream capacity building and our “capacity building workshops”, delivered to educators. During these sessions educators are upskilled about child development, developmental “red flags” and how to identify these. Based on what they have learnt, they are then asked to identify any inclusion barriers within their programs or service. The learning outcome for these workshops is to demonstrate increased knowledge and to identify access and inclusion barriers, creating actions to work towards inclusion for children with developmental concerns, delay and/or disability.

In one example, an early childcare centre director who we worked with acknowledged that several access and inclusion improvements had been implemented because of the capacity building workshop including:

the use of visual cards and flashcards to promote children’s communication and discuss their emotions.
reducing and streamlining relevant toys and equipment in the rooms to align with program activities. This also enhanced the children’s understanding of activities.
the educators introducing activities with options to cater for children’s development.

finally, the educators implemented visuals to accompany green choices and red choices (From Zones of Regulation²) to support children’s emotional regulation and met with families to discuss children’s developmental concerns.

To summarise, for Thriving Kids to be successful, it will be imperative for families to have a key point of contact ensuring they do not need to retell their story. The role of this key contact is to coordinate all services and supports, ensuring the family can implement goals and strategies across the child’s natural settings, building the capacity of the team around the child ensuring the best possible outcomes are achieved. Therefore, this person needs to have the qualifications, skills and experience to deliver services to children and families and a strong understanding of the early childhood service system ensuring appropriate linkages to community and mainstream supports are completed. In addition, the service system itself needs to operate as an “eco system” wrapping supports around the child and family, not a group of isolated services the family is required to navigate between.

Identify equity and intersectional issues, in particular, children who identify as First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse.

It is a reality of children experiencing development delay that each situation is unique and complex. For this reason, Thriving Kids should be founded in the basics of true family-centred practice, an approach that considers all elements of a child and family and their environment, and how these intersect, when considering how best to support them.

Taking examples given in the terms of reference, building authentic and respectful relationships with First Nations and culturally diverse communities is essential. This process begins with a commitment to understanding the unique characteristics of each community and actively listening during initial engagements. Cultural sensitivity is key; we must engage local elders and community leaders in our consultations.

At LCHS, we prioritise face to face meetings at local community hubs where people feel most comfortable. This approach aligns with early childhood best practices and is supported by recommendations from the Australian Institute of Family Studies. We recognise that trust takes time to establish, especially for those who may have had negative past experiences. It is not uncommon for community members to observe our team for several months before feeling comfortable enough to engage in conversation.

We also acknowledge that members of First Nations and culturally diverse communities may choose to visit our sites. Therefore, it is crucial to create inclusive spaces that celebrate cultural diversity and foster genuine connections with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families, and communities. For example, LCHS sites feature Aboriginal artwork, prominently display The Uluru Statement from the Heart in the foyer, showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, and utilise marketing materials that include Aboriginal artwork and are translated into key languages.

² The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum designed to teach children self-regulation and emotional control. Developed by Leah Kuypers, it categorizes emotions and states of alertness into four coloured zones: Blue Zone: Low states of alertness (e.g., tired, sad). Green Zone: Optimal state for learning (e.g., calm, happy). Yellow Zone: Heightened state of alertness (e.g., anxious, excited). Red Zone: Extremely heightened states (e.g., anger, fear).

A successful example of relationship building occurred with the Sudanese community at LCHS, starting in 2018 when a family faced challenges in navigating our processes and brought their community leader as an advocate. After this initial meeting, we connected with the leader and began attending community celebrations, where we engaged in shared meals, dancing, and conversation. We ensured that the same two staff members attended each event and were permitted to bring an interpreter for private discussions. By participating in the celebrations and investing time in building relationships, we gradually earned the community’s trust. This led to community members approaching LCHS staff for support, resulting in numerous successful interventions.

To effectively support First Nations and culturally diverse communities through Thriving Kids, it is vital that both community and mainstream environments recognise the impact of developmental delays, concerns, and autism on inclusion. Creating inclusive community and mainstream settings will be essential for the success of Thriving Kids. Here are some case studies demonstrating LCHS’s collaborative efforts to enhance access and inclusion:

Case Study: Strengthening Access and Inclusion for First Nations Communities:
LCHS early childhood services partnered with a First Nations Early Learning Centre and attended an access and inclusion workshop. This training enhanced their understanding of barriers to inclusion and developmental red flags, leading to actionable changes. Implementations included adding cushions for comfort during group time, offering table activities for children who struggled with group settings, making group activities more interactive and shorter, and addressing individual interests. They also utilised social stories, modelling, effective feedback, visual aids, noise-cancelling headphones, and movement-based activities. Educators focused on supporting younger children over extended periods, enabling them to address individual developmental areas flexibly, thus enhancing support for children with developmental concerns within their natural settings.

Identify gaps in workforce support and training required to deliver Thriving Kids.

There is already a significant skills and workforce shortage in the early childhood intervention sector. This is evidenced by the large waitlists for service across community, mainstream and the early intervention sector. The demand for services and supports has increased since the introduction of the NDIS and unfortunately many services that were once available are no longer available, putting more demand on those that remain.

In addition, with the introduction of the NDIS, the best practice “key worker” or “team around the child” model has been challenging to deliver for providers given the shift in focus to individualised clinical therapies with less coordination of services. This has created further workforce gaps, particularly with allied health professions.

To ensure the success of Thriving Kids, it will be imperative to see a return to a more coordinated, best practice model, where the family has a team around the child, one skilled point of contact who can coordinate linkages into mainstream and services and supports and while delivering a specialised individual program based on a child’s needs. This will help address the workforce shortage, provided the key point of contact is an appropriately skilled educator with wholistic family-centred practice and child development knowledge. With those embedded skills, there is reduced need to refer to external professionals, although anything “out of scope” of that educator role can still be referred to an appropriate allied health professional or other service, albeit in a better coordinated manner.

LCHS has successfully implemented the “team around the child” or “key worker” model in its early supports service delivery. An Early Childhood (EC) Coordinator is assigned to each child and family as the main point of contact, leveraging the skills and knowledge of all individuals involved in the child’s life. The family remains central to the team, retaining the final decision-making authority. Team members may include early childhood educators, teachers, paediatricians, and other key figures, along with relevant LCHS early childhood team members such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and psychologists. The EC Coordinator collaborates closely with the team, utilising the insights of the family and other members.

LCHS continues to utilise the internal team through:

case conferencing/consults
coaching (through Senior EC Coordinators, Subject Matter Experts and workplace trainers)
shadowing/joint visits
fortnightly supervision – group and/or individual for every EC Coordinator
EC Team Days that focus on developing, sharing and workshopping early supports
Team meetings
Professional Development – internal and external opportunities

One investment that will be critical, will be ensuring that newly trained educators possess high-level skills. This means universities addressing existing skill gaps by offering courses that cover best practice in early intervention service delivery, as well as comprehensive knowledge of child development and inclusion principles to scale this key workforce.

A successful approach at LCHS has involved partnerships with TAFE and universities to enhance students’ abilities to improve access and inclusion for children with developmental concerns, delays, or disabilities. Students in early childhood and education programs have been encouraged to identify inclusion barriers in their future career settings and develop actionable strategies to enhance inclusivity. These strategies include individualised interventions, best practices, and comprehensive program changes. LCHS has also supported students in identifying these inclusion action items before graduation, thereby increasing their capacity to respond effectively to the needs of children and families in community settings.

Draw on domestic and international policy experience and best practice.

There is a great deal of activity and reform currently underway in the early childhood sector. However, the Review of Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention project is the only one commissioned by, and funded through, the Department of Social Services, to review and update guidance in early childhood intervention. Professionals and Researchers in Early Childhood Intervention (PRECI) has been commissioned to undertake this review. PRECI is the peak body for professionals and researchers in the Early Childhood Intervention sector. PRECI is a not-for-profit Australian organisation that has been formed by a national coalition of early childhood intervention service practitioners and university researchers.

The 2016 edition of the ECIA National Guidelines: Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention has been the endorsed by the Department and supported for use by the NDIA’s Early Childhood Partners until recently.

On 1st October 2025, the National Best Practice Framework for Early Childhood Intervention was endorsed and released. This Framework is the official Framework endorsed by the Department of Health, Disability and Aging. Its development involved reviews of research and evidence, reviews of other national and international practice frameworks and through an extensive consultation. In addition, the Framework is designed to be consistent with and complement other key national frameworks including the national Early Years Strategy 2024-2034, the Being, Belonging and Becoming: Early Years Learning Framework v2.0 (2022), and Safe and Supported: National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031.

These guidelines and the new Framework extend beyond general aims, guidelines and principles. They also include resources and tools to support implementation and are not only used by NDIA’s Early Childhood Partners but are respected and valued guideline by early childhood intervention providers across Australia. As part of the development of the new Framework, PRECI has already undertaken a full review of current policies, reviews and frameworks and evidence-based outcomes tools and completed a large consultation process. These guidelines should be used to form the basis of development of the Thriving Kids model, rather than investing in further research.

Identify mechanisms that would allow a seamless transition through mainstream systems for all children with mild to moderate support needs.

As discussed throughout this submission, tools can be helpful for families to support a seamless transition, but due to the complexity of the service system, the tools will be more impactful with the support of a skilled and qualified person to guide the family to implement these tools. The goal of this professional should always be to build a family’s capacity to implement the tools, strategies and outcomes so that professionals are not needed long term.

In terms of mechanisms, a place to house information will be important. An app or a portal should be available for a family to access. This would be a place that has all relevant information about the family and child and will reduce the need to share their story to new support services as they are introduced. This portal should be a space where the family can store information but also give permission to providers to store information. For example, the key point of contact could upload the goals and strategies for the child that have been agreed to. The family can then share these with other mainstream supports such as childcare and kindergarten services to enable them to be embedded in those settings, supporting the capacity building model.

A website that has specialist, community and mainstream services in local areas to support linkages will be invaluable. This does not negate the importance of the “one point of contact” being embedded in their local community and understanding the services and supports available, but to have a site where they are easily accessible and contact details are up to date and available would streamline support for families. LCHS is building a database for internal use currently for this purpose. There are other public websites that have excellent supports and information available, but this type of website could be streamlined more and would be very beneficial.

Summary

As one of Australia’s largest and longest serving providers of Early Childhood supports, Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS) has developed significant experience and expertise in early childhood development, delivering evidence-based, family-centred, and strengths-based support across metropolitan and regional Victoria. With over eight years’ experience as a trusted NDIA

partner, LCHS has piloted and refined best practice tools, built mainstream capacity, and invested in research and innovation to improve outcomes for children and families.

Given that experience, it is our view that the Thriving Kids model should:

Focus on providing the right support at the right time,
Be positioned as the preferred pathway, enabling children to thrive independent of complex and disconnected supports that demand constant and stressful coordination by families
Be defined as a primary early support pathway, rather than a NDIS alternative.
Ensure families have a single key point of contact who is skilled in early childhood development to coordinate supports and prevent system complexity.
Be adequately funded to deliver sustainable (if short term), outcome-focused services.
Use evidence-based screening tools (e.g. PEDS-R®, ASQ-3, BRIGANCE®) alongside professional support, family education, and early intervention in natural settings.

Best practice requires a “team around the child” approach with multidisciplinary and community collaboration, delivering individualised programs rather than one-size-fits-all solutions. LCHS emphasises the importance of cultural safety and inclusion for First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse families, achieved through respectful relationship-building, inclusive environments, and capacity-building partnerships.

Key challenges include workforce shortages, the erosion of the original NDIS early childhood approach, and over-reliance on separate clinical therapies rather than coordinated models. To address this workforce challenge, LCHS recommends promoting strong training pathways, partnerships with universities, and a return to coordinated, family-centred practice.

Policy development should build on existing national best practice guidelines (ECIA 2016, PRECI’s review) rather than duplicating research. Mechanisms such as digital portals or apps could streamline family information-sharing and transitions across mainstream services, supported by local knowledge and trusted professionals.

Ultimately, Thriving Kids must deliver integrated, well-funded, culturally safe, and evidence-based supports that reduce system complexity, empower families, and provide long-term value.

LCHS welcomes the opportunity to make this submission and would be happy to provide any additional support or information the enquiry requires.