Submission 201 — Parenting and Family Research Alliance — Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative | External submission

SUBMISSION TO

THE HOUSE STANDING COMMITTEE ON

HEALTH, AGED CARE AND DISABILITY:

PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO THRIVING KIDS INITIATIVE

Trevor G. Mazzucchelli, Curtin University

Jacqui Barfoot, The University of Queensland

Avril V. Brereton, Monash University

Sharon Dawe, Griffith University

Erica Kelly, University of Southern Queensland

Michelle Macvean, Parenting Research Centre

Bruce J. Tonge, Monash University

Catherine Wade, Parenting Research Centre

A submission of a National Disability Insurance Group Action Circle

Prepared on behalf of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance (PAFRA)

Contact: Trevor Mazzucchelli, Parenting and Family Research Alliance

Email: redacted

2 October 2025

Suggested citation: Parenting and Family Research Alliance. (2025, October 2). Submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability: Parliamentary inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative.

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Message Up Front

Parents, carers and others in a parenting role are the most important influence in a child’s life. When families are supported, children do better at home, in school, and in the community. This is especially critical in the early years, when developmental concerns are first identified and timely responses make the greatest difference.

Parenting supports are a proven way to help children grow and thrive, while also giving families of children with developmental delay, Autistic children1, or those with other emerging concerns a direct entry point to get the help they need. By parenting supports, we mean evidence-based programs and resources that strengthen the skills and confidence of anyone in a parenting role—parents, carers, grandparents, foster carers, or other family members who share day-to-day responsibility for raising children. These include structured parenting programs (e.g., Triple P, Tuning in to Kids), parent-mediated approaches where parents learn to embed therapeutic strategies in everyday routines, and accessible resources and services that help families manage children’s behaviour, learning, and development.

There is strong evidence from Australia and around the world that these supports work. They help children reach their potential, strengthen parent-child relationships, reduce stress for families, and prevent serious problems such as child maltreatment. Parenting supports are also cost-effective: every dollar invested can return up to seven dollars in benefits through reduced health, education, and child protection costs.

The Thriving Kids initiative is a chance to make parenting support available to every family. That means embedding support into everyday services like health clinics, schools, and community hubs, rather than offering it as an optional extra. Support needs to be flexible—lighter help for most families, with more intensive support for those facing bigger challenges. It also needs to be co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally diverse, disability, and Autistic communities to ensure it is accessible and respectful.

With long-term investment, a trained workforce, and better coordination between services, Australia can build a system that helps families early, reduces stress and disadvantage, and gives every child the best chance to thrive.

Parenting supports:

Help children communicate, learn, and manage their behaviour
Reduce stress, anxiety, and depression for parents
Save money by cutting demand for more intensive services
Work for all types of families and can be adapted for diverse needs and circumstances

What Thriving Kids must do:

Make parenting supports a core element of the initiative.
Invest in workforce training so health, education, and community workers can deliver these supports nationally.
Embed supports in everyday services—health centres, schools, childcare, and community hubs.
Ensure cultural safety and accessibility through co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, disability, and culturally diverse communities.
Build monitoring, evaluation, and data systems to track outcomes and drive continuous improvement in service provision.
Secure long-term sustainability through stable funding, strong governance, and family voice in decision-making.

[1] Note on terminology: In this submission we use the term “Autistic children” to reflect the preference of many in the Autistic community for identity-first language, while recognising that some people prefer person-first language (e.g., “children with autism”).

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Executive Summary

Supporting parents, carers, and others in a parenting role is one of the most effective ways to improve children’s wellbeing. When families are supported, children do better at home, in school, and in the community. This is particularly critical in the early years, when developmental concerns are first identified and timely responses can make the greatest difference. Parenting supports are a proven way to promote children’s healthier development and wellbeing, while also providing an accessible entry point for families of young children with developmental delay, Autistic children, or other emerging concerns to receive the help they need. By parenting supports, we mean structured, evidence-based programs and resources that build parenting skills, enhance parent-child relationships, and support family wellbeing.

There is strong evidence from Australia and around the world that parenting supports work. They help children behave better, reach their full potential, reduce stress for parents, and prevent serious problems such as child maltreatment. Parenting supports also save money–every dollar invested can return up to seven dollars in benefits through reduced costs to health, education, and child protection systems.

The Thriving Kids initiative is a chance to make these supports available to every family. This means making parenting support a normal part of everyday services, like child health clinics, schools, and community hubs, not an optional extra or a consideration reserved for when concerns escalate. Support needs to be flexible with some degree of parenting support available to all families: lighter help for most families, with more intensive support for those facing bigger challenges. It also needs to be co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally diverse, disability, and Autistic communities so it is accessible, relevant to them, and respectful.

With long-term investment, a well-trained workforce, and proper coordination between services, Australia can build a system that helps families early, reduces stress and disadvantage, and gives every child the best chance to thrive.

This submission directly addresses each of the six Terms of Reference for the Inquiry, ensuring alignment with the Committee’s focus on children with developmental delay, Autistic children, or those with other developmental concerns who require support.

This submission draws on high-quality research, and Australian policy experience to outline how evidence-based parenting supports can be embedded in the Thriving Kids initiative.

“Supporting parents is one of the smartest investments we can make—because when parents are supported, children do well, families are stronger, and communities thrive.”

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Introduction – p.5
Response to the Terms of Reference – p.5
- TOR 1: Evidence-based supports for parents – p.5
- TOR 2: Effectiveness of current and past programs – p.6
- TOR 3: Equity and intersectional issues – p.6
- TOR 4: Workforce support and training – p.7
- TOR 5: Domestic and international policy lessons – p.8
- TOR 6: Seamless transitions through mainstream systems – p.8
Overarching Recommendations – p.9
Conclusion – p.11

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1. Introduction

The Parenting and Family Research Alliance (PAFRA; www.pafra.org) is a national alliance of leading researchers in parenting and family science, established to collectively advocate for increased access to evidence-based parenting supports (EBPS). As a not-for-profit alliance, PAFRA brings together program developers and researchers from across 19 Australian universities and research centres to provide a unified, evidence-informed voice to government, practitioners, and the community (1, 2). Supporting parents, carers, and others in a parenting role is one of the most effective ways to promote children’s healthy development and wellbeing, particularly in the early years when developmental concerns are first identified. Embedding EBPS into universal service platforms such as maternal and child health, early childhood education and care, schools, and community hubs not only strengthens outcomes for all families but also provides timely, accessible pathways for families of children with developmental delay, Autistic children, or other developmental concerns to receive the targeted help they need.

Parenting programs are among the most efficacious and cost-effective interventions available for promoting children’s mental health, development, and wellbeing. Large-scale systematic reviews and meta-analyses have demonstrated their effectiveness in preventing child maltreatment, improving behavioural and emotional adjustment, and reducing parental stress, depression and anxiety (3). Evidence also shows that EBPS can reduce social inequities by providing accessible, scalable supports that strengthen parent–child relationships across diverse communities, including families experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage, cultural and linguistic diversity, and disability (2, 3).

This submission responds to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference (TOR) by synthesising the current evidence base, highlighting best practice in the delivery of parenting and family supports, and drawing out policy implications for the Thriving Kids initiative. PAFRA’s position is that investing in EBPS is one of the most effective levers available to government for ensuring all children in Australia have the opportunity to thrive. In this submission, EBPS refers to interventions that strengthen parenting skills, parent-child relationships, and family wellbeing. This includes parenting programs; parent-mediated supports, where parents are upskilled to apply therapeutic strategies (such as implementing speech or occupational therapy techniques in everyday routines); as well as broader parenting resources and supports. We draw on high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses across multiple models, while also noting lessons from large-scale rollouts of specific programs where relevant.

2. Response to Terms of Reference

TOR 1: Evidence-based supports for parents

High-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses demonstrate that parenting interventions improve child behaviour, enhance parenting confidence, and strengthen family wellbeing. For families of young children in the early years of development, these benefits are particularly important because the early years are the window when developmental concerns are most often identified and timely interventions can have the greatest long-term impact. Parenting programs not only promote healthy development across the whole population but also provide an accessible, non-stigmatising pathway into the system for families of children with developmental delay or disability, ensuring that parents are supported and connected quickly to targeted therapeutic and educational services. Embedding these programs in universal platforms also creates routine opportunities for screening and referral, enabling developmental concerns to be identified earlier and families connected to specialist services without stigma.

For example, a Campbell Collaboration review of more than 150 trials of behavioural and cognitive-behavioural parenting programs reported consistent improvements in child conduct problems and parenting practices across diverse settings (4). Gardner and colleagues (5) confirmed that effects of parenting programs are maintained across socioeconomic groups and cultural contexts, while Kaminski et al. (6) identified the active ingredients of these programs—particularly features that strengthen the parent-child relationship, such as promoting positive parent-child interactions and consistent discipline. Parenting programs are also among the most cost-effective public health interventions available. Economic evaluations of parenting programs demonstrate favourable benefit-cost ratios, with returns ranging from approximately $7 to $10 for every $1 invested, reflecting reductions in child behavioural problems, maltreatment, and associated service costs (7, 8).

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Supports provided to parents in the home environment are particularly effective for families facing high levels of stress or disadvantage, enabling parents to apply skills directly in daily routines (9). Digital and telehealth parenting program delivery models, including internet-delivered Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (10) and Triple P Online (11), have also been shown to extend reach, especially to rural and remote communities.

Recommendation: The Thriving Kids initiative should invest in scalable, multi-modal EBPS (group-based, individual, home-based, community-based, and online formats) tailored for accessibility and cultural safety.

TOR 2: Effectiveness of current and past programs

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses provide strong evidence that EBPS are effective across diverse populations. However, their particular value for policy and practice lies in the lessons they offer for implementation at scale. For example, meta-analyses show that multi-level parenting support systems can be delivered effectively across different cultural and socioeconomic contexts (5, 12), and highlight the program components most critical for sustained impact (4, 6). Reviews also confirm that benefits of parenting programs extend beyond child behaviour to include improvements in parental wellbeing, family functioning, and reductions in risk of child maltreatment (3, 9). Importantly, these population-level parenting approaches also improve early identification of developmental concerns, since universal service contact provides natural points of engagement where parents can raise concerns and practitioners can observe children’s progress. These findings, taken together with large-scale rollouts, demonstrate not only efficacy but also the feasibility of embedding EBPS into real-world service systems.

These findings are reinforced by international reviews showing that parenting interventions retain their effectiveness when transported across countries, with effects as strong, or stronger, in culturally distant regions (13). Systematic reviews also highlight that culturally adapted programs enhance engagement and outcomes for minority families (5).

Illustrative large-scale trials, such as population-level rollouts of Triple P in the U.S. and Australia, provide practical lessons about taking interventions to scale. These studies demonstrated community-level reductions in child maltreatment and highlighted the importance of workforce readiness, fidelity monitoring, and multi-sector collaboration (14-16). More recent projects, such as the Mental Health of Young People with Developmental Disabilities (MHYPeDD), show how structured planning enables the scaling of supports for families of children with disability (17).

Recommendation: Prioritise the system-level implementation of EBPS by investing in the infrastructure needed for fidelity monitoring, workforce readiness, practice quality and service delivery capacity, as well as cross-sector collaboration. Implementation should be supported by ongoing evaluation frameworks that track both outcomes and equity, ensuring programs are embedded sustainably across health, education, disability, and community systems.

TOR 3: Equity and intersectional issues

Systematic reviews confirm that parenting interventions can reduce disparities by improving access to support and reducing the stigma associated with help-seeking (18). This is especially relevant for families of children with developmental delay, Autistic children, or other developmental concerns, who often face fragmented systems and delayed access to services. Embedding EBPS in universal platforms ensures these families can be identified early, supported in culturally safe ways, and provided with proportionate help according to need. Proportionate universalism, providing lighter-touch interventions for most families and more intensive supports for those with greater needs, helps ensure resources are distributed equitably, while also creating natural pathways for families whose children require developmental assessment or disability support (19).

Co-design and cultural adaptation with the disability and other specific communities are critical for equity. Evidence shows that programs adapted in partnership with specific communities improve engagement and effectiveness (5). This applies particularly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, CALD communities, LGBTQIA+ families, and families experiencing multiple disadvantage. Families frequently face intersecting

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challenges; for example, a child with disability in a CALD household living in poverty, which magnify barriers to access and underscore the need for culturally safe and integrated supports.

For families of children with developmental delay or disability, equity also requires that EBPS complement child-focused interventions. Parent-mediated approaches can help parents achieve their child’s developmental goals (e.g., communication, play, function) while also strengthening parent-child relationships and family wellbeing (20).

A critical but often neglected group is parents with intellectual disability. These parents are overrepresented in child protection systems, and outcomes are often poor when support is absent (21). Yet evidence shows that tailored parenting interventions can improve knowledge, skills, and child wellbeing even in contexts of significant adversity (20, 21). Reviews also highlight that it is the accumulation of contextual risks, not cognitive limitations alone, that drives unsafe circumstances, pointing to the need for multi-component approaches that combine parenting support with practical assistance (21). Ensuring equitable access for parents with intellectual disability is both a matter of child protection and social justice (22).

Families with multiple and complex needs, including parental substance misuse, mental health problems, poverty, or displacement, also benefit from parenting interventions. A Campbell systematic review of 99 studies found that integrated programs combining parenting support with case management, substance treatment, and judicial/child-welfare collaboration reduced child abuse potential, out-of-home care, and child emotional/behavioural difficulties (23). This evidence shows that even in circumstances often considered “intractable,” change is possible when interventions are holistic and coordinated.

Finally, research on culturally adapted interventions for refugee and displaced families indicates that tailoring content to language, values, and lived experiences can improve engagement and outcomes (23). This highlights the importance of embedding co-design and cultural adaptation across all levels of program development and delivery. These groups are often the families most at risk of being left behind, yet evidence consistently shows that when supports are tailored and sustained, even the most disadvantaged families can benefit.

Recommendation: Fund co-design initiatives with disability, Autistic, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, CALD and refugee communities; ensure accessibility for all families including parents with intellectual disability; and embed proportionate universalism in program design to provide both universal reach and targeted intensity where most needed.

TOR 4: Workforce support and training

Scaling EBPS requires a trained and sustainable workforce across health, education, and community sectors, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners and those from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Systematic reviews show that workforce shortages and uneven distribution are major barriers to program reach (24). Retention is equally critical–without adequate funding and remuneration, supervision, and career pathways, practitioners often leave the sector, undermining implementation.

A national workforce strategy should include recruitment, training, accreditation, and retention supports, with infrastructure for ongoing supervision and quality improvement. Workforce development should also emphasise skills in developmental screening and early referral, ensuring practitioners can recognise emerging concerns and link families to appropriate supports as part of routine service delivery. Established program purveyors and training organisations, including but not limited to Triple P International, the Tuning in to Kids program (University of Melbourne), and ParentWorks (University of Sydney), can deliver training at scale. Partnerships with Aboriginal health services and other community-controlled organisations are also essential to build culturally safe and community-led capacity (24, 25).

Effective workforce strategies also require strong leadership and governance structures. Organisational support, clear accountability, and a positive implementation climate enable practitioners to deliver programs with fidelity while adapting to family needs (26, 27). National leadership is also needed to align investments across health, education, and social services, preventing duplication and ensuring sustainable impact.

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Dedicated efforts are also needed to recruit, train, support and retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners. The Lowitja Institute (28) framework highlights that strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce capacity is critical to delivering culturally safe services that build trust and continuity of care for families. Co-design with Aboriginal communities, alongside specific training and mentoring pathways, can help grow an Aboriginal parenting workforce that is both culturally grounded and equipped to deliver evidence-based interventions (25).

Recommendation: Establish a national workforce development strategy that invests in recruitment, training, retention, and infrastructure; embeds Aboriginal workforce leadership; and supports sustainable delivery of EBPS across systems.

TOR 5: Domestic and international policy lessons

International experience confirms that embedding parenting support in mainstream service systems delivers wide-ranging benefits. Systematic reviews highlight the transportability of parenting interventions across countries and cultures (5, 13), while global frameworks such as the WHO Nurturing Care Framework emphasise parenting as a central pillar of child development and equity (29).

Policy models such as the UK’s Sure Start initiative and New Zealand’s Whānau Ora program demonstrate that embedding family support in universal platforms reduces reliance on tertiary services and strengthens community capacity. A key lesson from these initiatives is that mainstream universal platforms not only deliver broad parenting support but also serve as critical access points for identifying developmental concerns early and linking families with tailored interventions. At the same time, both programs illustrate that sustained investment and long-term political commitment are essential; when funding is reduced, early gains are undermined (30, 31).

Recent analyses, including Hayre et al. (32) reinforce these lessons. Hayre et al. (32) emphasise that parenting and family supports are most effective when designed as part of a long-term system-wide infrastructure, rather than as short-term or project-based initiatives. Their work highlights that embedding such supports within mainstream service systems can help reduce inequities, particularly for disadvantaged families. This adds weight to the case that Thriving Kids should be positioned as a sustained, equity-focused reform rather than a temporary program.

In Australia, strong domestic evidence shows the feasibility of scaling parenting interventions. Large-scale trials of systems such as Triple P provide valuable lessons on infrastructure, workforce development, and evaluation at a population level (14, 16). Complementing this work, the MHYPeDD project has demonstrated the planning and methodology required for wide-scale implementation of parenting supports for families of children with disability (17).

Recommendation: Align the Thriving Kids initiative with global best practice by embedding EBPS into mainstream health, education, and community systems, while leveraging proven Australian innovations. Funding mechanisms should also allow flexibility for families to access complementary forms of support (e.g., parent-mediated interventions, child-focused therapies) where appropriate, and must ensure disadvantaged families benefit equitably from these supports.

TOR 6: Seamless transitions through mainstream systems

At present, many families encounter fragmented systems of support, particularly those navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Parents report uncertainty over whether parenting programs are covered, and guidelines are inconsistently interpreted by planners. This lack of clarity means families often miss out on evidence-based parenting support, even when it is directly relevant to their child’s developmental needs and has been recommended by the child’s specialist (16, 33). Strengthening integration across systems is vital to ensure that children with developmental concerns do not “fall through the cracks” and that families experience continuity of care across health, education, disability, and community sectors. Barriers are compounded by financial incentives within the NDIS that prioritise direct child therapies over parent- and

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family-focused interventions, reducing opportunities for more cost-effective group or family-based support (33).

Embedding parenting programs across mainstream service platforms, maternal and child health services, early childhood education and care, schools, and general practice, offers a way to ensure continuity of support and reduce reliance on tertiary systems (2). Importantly, Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health services and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations provide culturally safe, holistic care and are trusted first points of contact for many families. Embedding evidence-based parenting supports into these services would strengthen continuity of care and improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families (28).

Service integration is not simply a matter of co-location. Effective cross-system working requires formal agreements such as memoranda of understanding (MoUs), information- and data-sharing protocols, and shared digital infrastructure to support case coordination and referral pathways. Hub-style service models, where education, health, and family support services are co-located, have demonstrated value in reducing duplication and enabling parents to navigate complex systems more easily (31, 34). These models also align with Australian government early years policy and service infrastructure (35).

Digital navigation tools and coordinated referral systems can further support families by providing clear, user-friendly pathways through available supports. This should be paired with training for service providers, including NDIS planners, to recognise and recommend evidence-based parenting programs as legitimate, fundable supports.

Recommendation: Develop integrated referral pathways, joint planning and working protocols, and digital navigation tools that embed parenting programs into mainstream platforms such as maternal and child health services, Aboriginal health services, early childhood education, schools, and general practice. Formalise collaboration through MoUs, data-sharing agreements, and shared service hubs, ensuring cultural safety and continuity of care for all families.

3. Overarching Recommendations

The following overarching recommendations are presented in alignment with the Inquiry’s six Terms of Reference:

Embed parenting programs and supports as core infrastructure. Parenting support should not be treated as an optional add-on. Evidence-based parenting programs must be recognised as a core component of the Thriving Kids initiative, embedded across health, education, disability, and community service systems.
Invest in national workforce training, accreditation, and retention. A sustainable, culturally responsive workforce is critical. Investment should include recruitment, training, and accreditation, as well as retention strategies such as career pathways, ongoing professional development, supervision, and infrastructure to support quality delivery.
Ensure equity through co-design and proportionate universalism. Programs must be co-designed with families and the community—including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, CALD groups, families of children with disability, LGBTQIA+ families, and parents with intellectual disability, and disability- and Autistic-led organisations and advocates—and delivered through a proportionate universalism approach: lighter-touch supports available universally, with more intensive services for families with greater needs.
Align with domestic and international best practice. Draw on lessons from global frameworks (e.g., WHO Nurturing Care Framework) and policy models (e.g., Sure Start, Whānau Ora), while leveraging Australia’s strong evidence base (Parents Under Pressure, ParentWorks-Spectrum, Triple P, Stepping Stones Triple P, Tuning in to Kids).
Build coordinated and accountable systems of care. Improving referrals is necessary but insufficient. Families need coordinated, robust service systems that prevent people from being passed between providers. This requires integrated planning, shared governance, joint protocols (including Memoranda of

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Understanding and data-sharing agreements), and models such as service hubs or co-located services to provide continuity of care and close service gaps. Dedicated navigators or care/case coordinators are also essential to help families find, access, and sustain the right supports. 6. Embed robust monitoring, evaluation, and data systems. A national framework for process and outcomes data collection should be embedded from the outset. Approaches such as RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance; 36) provide a foundation for tracking equity, impact, and sustainability over time. Shared data management systems and linked administrative datasets should be used to evaluate population impact and drive continuous improvement. 7. Secure sustainability, governance, and family voice. Long-term success requires stable funding models that prevent short program cycles and workforce instability. National governance mechanisms should align efforts across sectors, ensure fidelity, and reduce duplication. Families, carers and the disability and Autism communities should be engaged not only in program co-design but also in ongoing implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, ensuring their lived experience continues to inform practice and policy. Governance should also include independent oversight and regular public reporting to promote transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. Independent evaluation and public reporting will be key to demonstrating accountability and maintaining public trust.

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4. Conclusion

Parents and carers are the most significant influence in a child’s life. When families are supported, children thrive; when they are not, outcomes suffer. The Thriving Kids initiative presents a critical opportunity to ensure that families across Australia have access to consistent, evidence-based, and culturally safe parenting supports. These programs not only strengthen parent-child relationships but also reduce parental stress and anxiety, improve child development and behaviour, and lessen reliance on costly specialist or tertiary services.

The evidence is clear: embedding parenting support in mainstream service platforms, from maternal and child health to early education, schools, Aboriginal health services, and community hubs, delivers wide-ranging benefits for children, families, and society. International and domestic experience shows that when governments position parenting as a core public health strategy, the return on investment is substantial, reducing inequities and ensuring earlier, more effective intervention.

Realising this vision requires system-level reform. Parenting supports must be recognised as core elements of Thriving Kids, not optional add-ons. A national workforce development strategy, proportionate universalism in service design, co-design with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, disability, and culturally diverse communities, and robust monitoring, evaluation, and data systems are all essential. Importantly, reform must move beyond referral systems alone to create integrated, coordinated, and sustainable pathways of care that close existing gaps and strengthen service continuity. Long-term, stable funding is essential to avoid short program cycles, workforce churn, and inconsistent access. Sustainability must be built into program design from the outset. Digital and online supports should complement, not replace, in-person and home-based services, with blended approaches best positioned to maximise accessibility while preserving the relational elements families value most.

PAFRA is well placed to advise government on the design, implementation, and evaluation of these reforms, drawing on the collective expertise of Australia’s leading parenting and family researchers. By embedding evidence-based parenting supports at the heart of Thriving Kids, government can ensure a legacy of stronger families, healthier communities, and children who have the opportunity to truly thrive. Now is the time to act. By embedding parenting supports within universal service platforms, the Thriving Kids initiative will not only strengthen outcomes for all families but also ensure that children with developmental delay, Autistic children, or other developmental concerns are identified early and their families connected to the right supports at the right time. Embedding these supports in universal service systems provides a sustainable model that complements, rather than burdens, the NDIS.