NDIA Accountability Project

Submission 206 — Connected Kiddos — Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

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Submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and

Disability

Submitted by: Kristy Waugh

Clinical Social Worker

Connected Kiddos Early Intervention– Townsville, QLD

Date: 3 October 2025

Contact Details (for Committee use only):

Postal Address: 2/26 Bowen Road, Hermit Park QLD 4812

Email: Phone: 0468 360 497 Website: connectedkiddos.com.au

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Table of Contents

  1. Introduction

  2. Response to Terms of Reference 2.1 Identifying developmental concerns earlier 2.2 Establishing a national system of supports outside the NDIS 2.3 Relationship to the NDIS 2.4 Family functioning, carer capacity, and prevention of out-of-home care 2.5 Collaboration and integrated care 2.6 Workforce recognition and sustainability

  3. Recommendations

  4. Conclusion

  5. References 2

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  1. Introduction I am a Clinical Social Worker in private practice, specialising in attachment-based play therapy and family-centred approaches for children with developmental delays, disabilities, and early trauma experiences.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to Thriving Kids. However, I have concerns that without embedding relational, family-focused supports and sustainable funding for private practice allied health, children and families will fall further behind.

  1. Response to Terms of Reference 2.1 Identifying developmental concerns earlier Families in the Thriving Kids cohort are managing children with disrupted sleep, big emotions, and challenging behaviours that go beyond what usual parenting approaches can manage. These difficulties are often compounded by social isolation, exclusion from childcare or school, and the struggle to meet typical daily demands without adequate informal supports.

Parents are increasingly isolated, with fewer supports than previous generations — the ‘village’ is no longer there. Many juggle employment demands, housing stress, financial strain, other children’s needs, and intergenerational trauma. Their capacity to support children is limited despite strong motivation.

Early identification must include family functioning and caregiver wellbeing, not just child milestones. Whatever screening tools are used must therefore consider the whole family context, not only the child. Leaving this identification solely to GPs or maternal and child health services risks missing or dismissing the systemic issues surrounding the child (AIFS, 2024).

2.2 Establishing a national system of supports outside the NDIS

Because autism and developmental delay will make up the bulk of the Thriving Kids cohort, program design must prioritise timely access, functional impact over diagnosis, and the embedding of evidence-based relational supports.

Thriving Kids must not become a holding bay for children excluded from the NDIS. Eligibility should be based on functional impact, not diagnosis, recognising

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trauma, ADHD, and autism — and that traits commonly associated with these conditions often mask as developmental delay.

Children with trauma, ADHD, and autism must be explicitly included. Trauma profoundly impacts brain development (Perry, 2009), ADHD behaviours disrupt learning, regulation, and relationships long before a diagnosis is secured (Hinshaw, 2018), and autism is one of the most common developmental conditions in early childhood.

With paediatric waitlists of 12–24+ months (many closed to referrals for behavioural concerns), Thriving Kids must accept referrals from GPs, child health nurses, educators, social workers, psychologists, and other allied health professionals.

Programs must embed relational and attachment-focused interventions —

including Theraplay®, Marte Meo, AutPlay®, Circle of Security, ABC, Connect,

DDP, VIG, Envisage Families, Managing Big Feelings in Little People, and Attachment-Based Play Therapy. Evidence shows these strengthen secure attachment, improve emotional regulation, and reduce long-term service needs (Berlin et al., 2016; Cassidy et al., 2013).

These programs are not optional add-ons; they are evidence-informed approaches that address the core predictors of child wellbeing. Research shows that secure attachment and caregiver responsiveness are among the strongest predictors of a child’s emotional regulation, resilience, and long-term developmental outcomes, regardless of disability or delay (Madigan et al., 2006; Berlin et al., 2016). Interventions such as Circle of Security and ABC have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing later service use in child protection and mental health systems (Cassidy et al., 2013; AIFS, 2024).

By coaching and supporting caregivers directly, these programs strengthen family capacity, reduce carer burnout, and prevent escalation to more intensive (and costly) interventions, including out-of-home care. They are trauma-informed, inclusive of children with developmental delay, ADHD, and autism, and adaptable to the needs of families in foster, kinship, or single-parent households. Embedding these interventions in Thriving Kids will not only help children thrive but also protect government investment by reducing downstream service costs across health, education, justice, and welfare.

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2.3 Relationship to the NDIS

Children with permanent and significant disability must continue to be supported by the NDIS, but Thriving Kids must provide clear and guaranteed transition pathways for those whose needs escalate. Families must not be left navigating repeated reassessments or gaps in eligibility.

Without robust transition safeguards, children risk being left unsupported during critical developmental windows, and parents are left in limbo — despairing, desperate, and at risk of disengaging from services altogether. These delays compound developmental disadvantage, increase caregiver strain, and ultimately drive higher costs to government through crisis responses, acute health use, and child protection involvement.

Thriving Kids must work in lockstep with the NDIS to ensure children move seamlessly into the level of support they need — when they need it — not months or years later.

2.4 Family functioning, carer capacity, and prevention of out-of-home care

Parents who are stretched, fatigued, or unsupported have poorer outcomes, with increased likelihood of family breakdown and children entering out-of-home care. Research shows out-of-home care is associated with higher rates of mental illness, crime, and poorer educational outcomes (AIHW, 2023; Osborn & Delfabbro, 2006).

A secure relationship with at least one consistent caregiver is the single most protective factor in a child’s development, regardless of disability or delay (Madigan et al., 2006; Schofield & Beek, 2014). Thriving Kids must therefore invest in family capacity-building supports — such as Tuning into Kids, Envisage Families, parent coaching, and relational therapies — as a core component.

While group programs can offer peer connection and shared learning, they are not always suitable for families in the Thriving Kids cohort. Children with developmental delays, Autism, ADHD, trauma experiences, and disabilities often need tailored, one-on-one support. Group settings rarely allow for the flexibility required to meet these complex needs, and may leave families feeling judged, overwhelmed, or disengaged. For caregivers with their own trauma histories,

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trust and therapeutic safety are best built through individualised work. Practical barriers — such as transport, childcare, and employment demands — also make group attendance challenging for many.

For Thriving Kids to be effective, one-on-one relational and attachment-based interventions should form the foundation of support, with groups offered as a supplementary option, not the default.

2.5 Collaboration and integrated care

Families are often engaged with multiple services — health, education, disability, and at times child protection or other community supports. Collaborative stakeholder meetings are essential to align care, reduce duplication, and lessen the burden on parents.

Currently, these meetings are delivered unfunded by private allied health. Thriving Kids must allocate dedicated funding for case conferences and care coordination.

The risks of services operating in silos are profound — children and families may experience missed or delayed identification of intersecting issues, duplication of effort, and a lack of continuity across transitions (OECD, 2015). Families often bear the burden of stitching together fragmented care, increasing their emotional and logistical load. Ultimately, fragmented care costs the government more in the long term, as poor outcomes lead to higher rates of service use across health, justice, child protection, and welfare (AIHW, 2021).

2.6 Workforce recognition and sustainability Thriving Kids must sustain the diverse allied health workforce, not restrict funding to Medicare items.

Social workers without Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) status are currently excluded from Medicare rebates, as Medicare is tied to Focused Psychological Strategies (FPS) designed for adults with mental illness, not children with developmental challenges.

Many social workers have invested years of additional training in child development, disability, trauma, and relational therapies (e.g. Theraplay, Marte

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Meo, AutPlay). This expertise is essential for Thriving Kids’ success.

If funding is tied only to Medicare, these practitioners will be lost, leaving families without access to relational, family-focused expertise.

  1. Recommendations
  2. Recognise Social Work as a core discipline within Thriving Kids.
  3. Ensure eligibility is based on functional impact, not diagnosis alone.
  4. Explicitly include children with trauma and ADHD within the scope.
  5. Focus on embedding disability-inclusive parenting and relational programs (rather than generic programs for typically developing children). These

include Theraplay®, Marte Meo, AutPlay®, Circle of Security, Envisage

Families, Managing Big Feelings in Little People, ABC, Connect, DDP,

VIG, and Attachment-Based Play Therapy.

  1. Fund family capacity-building supports (e.g., Envisage Families, Tuning Into Kids, parent coaching, relational therapies) to prevent caregiver burnout and strengthen secure attachment.

  2. Guarantee clear and timely transition pathways between Thriving Kids and the NDIS, so children whose needs escalate do not face repeated reassessments, delays, or service gaps.

  3. Allocate dedicated funding for stakeholder meetings and care coordination.

  4. Ensure funding mechanisms go beyond Medicare rebates to sustain the specialist workforce, including social workers with child-development expertise who are currently excluded from Medicare despite extensive additional training.

  5. Address paediatric shortages by accepting referrals from multiple professionals, including GPs, child health nurses, educators, social workers, psychologists, and other allied health practitioners.

  6. Monitor outcomes not only in child skills but also in family functioning, caregiver strain, and attachment security, which are among the strongest predictors of long-term outcomes.

  7. Conclusion Thriving Kids is a vital reform. To succeed, it must recognise that families of children with developmental delays, disabilities, or early trauma experiences face

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challenges well beyond ordinary parenting. Secure attachment and caregiver wellbeing are the most powerful predictors of healthy child development (Madigan et al., 2006). Without relational, family-focused supports, children risk falling through the cracks — leading to burnout, family breakdown, and disengagement from services.

Thriving Kids must embed relational therapies, sustain private practice allied health, and ensure every child has access to secure, consistent support in their early years. This is the most powerful investment Australia can make in its children.

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  1. References Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). (2024). Parent-focused interventions to support behaviours in children. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/parent-focused-interventions-support-behaviours-children

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2021). Child protection in Australia 2019–20. Canberra: AIHW.

Berlin, L. J., Zeanah, C. H., & Lieberman, A. F. (2016). Prevention and intervention programs to support early attachment security: A move to the level of the community. Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications(3rd ed., pp. 739–758). New York: Guilford Press.

Cassidy, J., Ziv, Y., Stupica, B., Sherman, L. J., Butler, H., Karfgin, A., … & Powell, B. (2013). Enhancing attachment security in the infants of women in a community-based randomized controlled trial: The Circle of Security intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(6), 772–

  1. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029440 Hinshaw, S. P. (2018). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A concise review. Journal of the American Medical Association, 320(2), 164–

  2. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.7921 Madigan, S., Moran, G., & Pederson, D. R. (2006). Unresolved states of mind, disorganized attachment relationships, and disrupted interactions of adolescent mothers and their infants. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 293–

  3. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.293 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2015). Integrating social services for vulnerable groups: Bridging sectors for better service delivery. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Perry, B. D. (2009). Examining child maltreatment through a neurodevelopmental lens: Clinical applications of the neurosequential model of therapeutics. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14(4), 240–

  1. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325020903004350 Schofield, G., & Beek, M. (2014). The Secure Base model: Promoting attachment and resilience in foster care and adoption. London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

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Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important inquiry.

Sincerely,

Kristy Waugh

Clinical Social Worker

Connected Kiddos – Townsville, QLD

Email: Phone: 0468 360 497

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