3 October 2025
Dr Mike Freelander Chair, Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability Via email: Health.Reps@aph.gov.au
Dear Chair
Thriving Kids Initiative – Inquiry submission
This submission is from 54 reasons - Save the Children Australia’s local service delivery arm. We have also provided a joint submission with the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN), addressing the specific needs of children from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Our name refers to the 54 articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). We exist to champion children’s rights to safety, development and justice, which we do by providing quality services to over 25,000 children, young people and their carers every year across Australia.
This includes Play2Learn, an early years service which supports over 10,000 children and carers annually. We also deliver Australia’s first Payment by Outcomes contract in the early years, Play2Learn+, funded by the Commonwealth and the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
We are excited about the potential of Thriving Kids to transform child development outcomes by establishing an equitable and inclusive system that serves all children in Australia. It is critical we take this opportunity to address the gap for children who start school developmentally behind in two or more domains– 12.5% in the latest AEDC. Most live in places of entrenched disadvantage but up to 40% live elsewhere, confirming the need for a systems-wide response that delivers at scale.
This submission reflects what we’ve learnt in giving children’s rights practical expression here in Australia. Consistent with CRC Article 12, it also reflects the voices of the families we work with.
What is Play2Learn+?
Play2Learn+ is a community-based early intervention service, launched in Tasmania in 2022 for children aged 3-4. It targets those most likely to benefit – children and families disengaged with early learning, with low parental income and educational attainment. To date, we have worked with over 300 children and their carers, providing intensive, one-on-one parent coaching and child development support in the 15 months leading up to kindergarten commencement.
Up to 50% of children in Play2Learn+ have been diagnosed with autism and/or a developmental delay within the service period. We have achieved improved outcomes for all children in the service including those with with mild to moderate developmental concerns.
As such, we believe the model offers practical lessons for how Thriving Kids could be designed to ensure at risk children aged 0-8 years and their families are proactively identified, engaged, supported, and effectively linked to inclusive universal learning and allied health supports.
info@savethechildren.org.au
Save the Children Australia
www.savethechildren.org.au
A part of the Save the Children Australia Group
ACN: 008 610 035
Member of International Save the Children Association
www.54reasons.org.au
Member of ACFID
Engaging children and their families who would benefit most from Thriving Kids
Instead of waiting for referrals, our community-based practitioners go out and find eligible families, meeting them in homes or community settings. This overcomes barriers like transport or mistrust and sends a clear message that it is our job to reach families, not the other way around. Each family is paired with a consistent worker so a trusting relationship can grow gradually.
Early visits focus on listening and practical help, which builds rapport. As one practitioner put it, “We work so hard at building those relationships… to be a safe person they can trust.” Thanks to this persistent, empathetic approach, even very isolated or hesitant families are gently drawn into the program. They begin participating in early support where previously they would have missed out entirely.
We use early screening and tailored coaching to understand children’s needs and help parents address them promptly. On enrolment (and exit), caregivers complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3). Early identification means delays can be acted on immediately by building specific skills during home visits or access to specialists. This also educates and empowers parents. Caregivers have told us “it helps me find out where she needs work and more things to focus on with play”.
Practitioners also observe parent–child interactions using the PICCOLO (Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes), which lets them give constructive, strengths-based feedback on things like warmth, responsiveness and teaching. By modelling and praising positive interactions, this caregivers become more confident first teachers for their children.
Linking at risk children to inclusive universal learning and health services
[Play2Learn+] is removing the barriers and providing the support for them to be able to come.”
— A teacher from a primary school supported by Play2Learn+
Our team works with families to enrol and participate in educator led playgroups and then kindergarten - both school based. They help locate services, complete forms, make introductions, and attending appointments or groups alongside the family. The service also provides brokerage funding for allied health and specialist appointments otherwise out of reach for these families.
This overcomes barriers to access, making unfamiliar systems less intimidating, and over time builds carer confidence to navigate services independently. One mother recalled, “I reckon if I didn’t connect in with [the program], I’d still be struggling how I was at the start now. So its been a massive help. And cause sometimes I dont understand things myself, like with his [developmental assessment] appointment, having [the practitioner] there helped a lot too. And afterwards she could explain it to me properly.”
Combining these strategies, P2L+ delivers the kinds of outcomes the Thriving Kids initiative is hoping to achieve – engaged, confident carers and improved child development:
- Nearly two-thirds of children attended school based early learning sessions in the year before kindergarten. This matters: research links regular attendance to later literacy and numeracy outcomes. Children are more comfortable in groups , and caregivers more confident in building peer networks and interacting with school. By the time kindergarten begins, these families are better prepared and more at ease.
- Children’s development has shown marked improvement, from 19% at intake to 31% at exit. Far more children are starting school ready to learn. Kindergarten Development Check results confirm this, with children performing better on key markers than their peers.
- Finally, caregivers report greater confidence and capability. Over 60% demonstrate improved PICCOLO scores, which is linked to greater gains in child development. As one parent said, “The support I am receiving is amazing – they really understand what you are going through, and support you and your child to receive the best possible outcomes.”
Recommendation/s
Informed by the above, we offer the following recommendations:
- Mainstream services must be more inclusive and accessible for the target cohort, with available step-up tailored supports for both child and carers, consistent with the principle of proportionate universalism. In some places, the ‘stack’ of supports available might be greater than in others, and in remote or regional areas digital access should augment face to face.
- Active and assertive outreach must be a feature of the model for families who are highly disengaged. P2L+ shows how this gap can be closed through assertive outreach, relational practice, tailored parent coaching, and scaffolded access and participation in universal settings.
- Consider commissioning that drives accountability and supports adaptation for outcomes. Our P2L+ funding is tied to enrolment, participation, and child outcomes. This focus on impact works. We can genuinely see tangible, meaningful change for the clients we’ve worked with. Our practitioners love it – the focus on outcomes helps them to break down barriers, adapt using data, and applied funds flexibly to address the needs of individual families. It has also changed our relationship with funders from transactional to relational.
We would also encourage Government to incorporate the voices of children and carers into both Thriving Kids’ design and implementation, consistent with their right to be heard on decisions that affect them, and ensuring the service remains fit for purpose. We would be more than happy to support this process, with established mechanisms for meaningful and ethical child participation.
Thriving Kids presents a vital opportunity to reshape early childhood systems so that all children can access the support they need to thrive. As demonstrated through Play2Learn+, meaningful change is possible. We thank the Committee for the opportunity to contribute and stand ready to support the development of a system that delivers on every child’s right to grow, learn and thrive.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if we can provide any further information.
Kind regards
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Vicki Mau Executive Director 54 reasons – part of the Save the Children Australia Group