NDIA Accountability Project

Submission 46 — Australian Council of State School Organisations — Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

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Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative

Families at the Heart of Every Child’s Success

Submitted by:

Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) ABN: 51 319 893 516

Date: September 2025

Australian Council of State School Organisations - www.acsso.org.au

Acknowledgement of Country

ACSSO acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Contact:

Dianne Giblin — Chief Executive Officer Email: ceo@acsso.org.au

Website: www.acsso.org.au

Confidentiality:

This submission is not confidential.

Australian Council of State School Organisations - www.acsso.org.au

Submission to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) September 2025

Executive Summary

The Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative. ACSSO works for families in government schools across the nation, highlighting the real-life experiences of parents and caregivers who seek reassurance that their children will receive timely, fair, and supportive care. By collaborating with families and communities, ACSSO strives to make every child’s potential a reality, working to shape public education systems that are inclusive, equitable, and future-focused.

The Thriving Kids initiative seeks to establish a sustainable system of foundational supports for children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism outside the NDIS. While ACSSO supports the intent, families and advocates are deeply concerned about the proposed rollout, the risks of transition gaps, and the adequacy of workforce, equity, and consultation measures.

Key Findings

  • Parents need trusted, evidence-based resources, co-designed with families, culturally safe, and aligned with AEDC domains.
  • Proven models such as Connected Beginnings and Child and Family Hubs show strong results and should be scaled nationally. The Inklings program has also demonstrated potential in pilot form.
  • At the same time, families and neurodivergent advocates have raised concerns about how pilots such as Inklings are framed and implemented. ACSSO therefore emphasises that confidence in these programs depends on transparent long-term evaluation, genuine co-design with families and neurodivergent communities, and assurance that interventions support, rather than limit, children’s unique developmental pathways.
  • Equity must be embedded from the outset: ACCO leadership, CALD supports, rural/remote outreach, and protections against cost-shifting.
  • Workforce shortages are a critical barrier. A tiered model, incorporating therapy assistants, family navigators, educator training, and student placement pipelines, is essential.
  • International evidence (UK Sure Start, US IDEA Part C, OECD/UNICEF) highlights the importance of integration, sustainability, and family-owned care plans.
  • Families consistently call for seamless transitions across health, ECEC, and school systems, backed by navigators, portable care plans, and no-gap protections.
  • The current July 2026 rollout timeframe is unrealistic. A phased implementation with pilots, evaluation, and overlap with NDIS is essential.

Priority Recommendations

  1. Guarantee continuity of support with legislated no-gap protections.
  2. Provide a national suite of evidence-based family resources.
  3. Scale and sustain proven models, integrated with schools and ECEC.
  4. Embed equity by design, with First Nations leadership and CALD/rural protections.
  5. Strengthen the workforce through new roles, training, and pipelines.
  6. Learn from international best practice to ensure sustainability and accountability.
  7. Ensure seamless transitions through navigators, portable care plans, and data sharing.
  8. Adopt a realistic, phased rollout with pilots, evaluation, and transparent milestones.

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Final Statement

Thriving Kids must be more than a cost-saving reform. It is a chance to embed fairness, equity, and family partnership into Australia’s early childhood system. If carefully implemented, it can ensure no child is left behind. If rushed or underfunded, it risks compounding inequities and eroding trust. ACSSO urges the Inquiry to prioritise children’s developmental needs over political or fiscal timetables and stands ready to partner with government in co-designing a system that enables every child to thrive.

Introduction

The Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative. ACSSO works for families in government schools across the nation, highlighting the real-life experiences of parents and caregivers who seek reassurance that their children will receive timely, fair, and supportive care. By collaborating with families and communities, ACSSO strives to make every child’s potential a reality, working to shape public education systems that are inclusive, equitable, and future-focused.

We acknowledge the intent behind Thriving Kids, to create a sustainable, mainstream system of supports for children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism. We recognise the urgent need for reform: developmental vulnerability is rising at school entry, families face long waits for services, and confusion about “where to go first” persists.

However, recent media, community advocacy, and sector commentary highlight significant risks in the proposed design and rollout, particularly around timing, consultation, equity, and transition from the NDIS. Families want certainty, not disruption, and they want to be confident that mainstream supports will be genuinely available and effective.

This submission addresses the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference, drawing on ACSSO’s policy positions, the voices and lived experiences of families, the findings of the NDIS Review, the National Autism Strategy, and lessons from both domestic and international best practice.

1. Evidence-based resources to support parents

Parents and carers are the first teachers of their children, and they are also the first to notice when something may not be quite right with their child’s development. However, families regularly tell us that while they sense concerns early, they often do not know what constitutes a developmental “red flag,” where to go for advice, or what supports they can confidently access while waiting for more formal assessments. Too many parents report that their concerns are dismissed or minimised until school entry, at which point opportunities for earlier intervention have already been missed.

ACSSO believes that Thriving Kids must be underpinned by a comprehensive suite of evidence-based, nationally consistent resources for families. These resources should:

  • Be clear and accessible: Families need plain-English guidance, translated into community languages and available in multiple formats (print, digital, video, audio). Materials must avoid jargon and deficit-based framing, and instead provide parents with practical, hopeful advice.
  • Align with the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) domains: Parents need practical tools that map onto physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication/general knowledge. Checklists and examples should make it easy for parents to recognise both strengths and areas where support may be needed.
  • Provide a “no wrong door” pathway: Guidance should be linked to local services in maternal and child health, GPs, early childhood education and care (ECEC), schools, and

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community hubs. Families must be able to act on what they read or hear immediately, without having to navigate confusing or fragmented referral systems.

  • Model a neurodiversity-affirming lens: Language and examples must reflect the principles of the National Autism Strategy (2025-2031), ensuring children are seen as capable and valued. Parents need reassurance that developmental differences are not deficits, and that affirming strategies and environments make a profound difference.
  • Be culturally safe: Resources must be co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and translated into culturally and linguistically appropriate formats for CALD families. This includes using Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) as trusted distribution points and integrating bilingual support where needed.
  • Address the practical home environment: Many families want simple, everyday strategies, routines, play activities, and communication approaches that they can implement at home. The Thriving Kids fact sheet highlights that parental routines and advice in “everyday environments where children learn and play” are central to design. ACSSO strongly endorses this emphasis.1

Why this matters

The most recent AEDC results (2024) indicate an increase in developmental vulnerability, particularly in emotional maturity and language/cognitive skills, at the time of school entry. Families cannot afford to wait until formal schooling to receive clarity or support. Earlier, accessible information empowers parents to act sooner, reduces stress and uncertainty, and prevents developmental gaps from widening.

Children from low socio-economic backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to developmental delays, yet they are also among those who benefit most from early and universal support. Evidence shows that access to developmental screening and intervention in the early years significantly improves long-term educational outcomes, health, and wellbeing for children experiencing disadvantage.2

By embedding Thriving Kids within universal platforms, such as maternal and child health services, playgroups, and early learning programs, the program can reduce inequities and ensure that children from low-income families are not left behind.

Parents have expressed frustration at the uncertainty surrounding Thriving Kids. Media reports highlight that families currently supported by the NDIS are anxious about losing momentum and fear being left without alternatives during transition. ACSSO believes that well-designed, evidence-based resources can help provide this reassurance.

Similarly, advocates warn that if families are left without reliable information and clear pathways, many will be forced to “start from scratch,” undermining both parental confidence and child development.

Analysis by ABC News3 confirmed that families “just want certainty that if and when their children need it, that assistance will be available and easy to access”. ACSSO believes that well-designed, evidence-based resources can provide this certainty, even during the transition period.

1 Department of Health. (2025, August). Thriving Kids Fact Sheet. https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/thriving-kids-fact-sheet 2 Goldfeld, S., & West, S. (2015). Early childhood development and the social determinants of health inequities. Melbourne: Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/ccch/151014_Evidence-review-early-childhood-development-and-the-social-determinants-of-health-inequities_Sept2015.pdf 3 ABC News. (2025, 21 August). Families on NDIS just want certainty about what Thriving Kids means for their future. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/families-on-ndis-want-certainty-about-thriving-kids

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ACSSO recommendations

To ensure parents are genuinely supported, ACSSO recommends that the Thriving Kids initiative:

  1. Develop a national family resource suite, co-branded by health, education, and family peak bodies, providing checklists, developmental milestone guides, practical strategies, and service navigation tools.
  2. Integrate digital and physical access, an online “front door” that families can access via Medicare portals, school/ECEC apps, and community hubs, complemented by printed guides available at GP clinics, maternal and child health centres, schools, and libraries.
  3. Include tailored resources, co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and CALD families, with accessible formats for families experiencing low literacy, disability, or digital exclusion.
  4. Embed evidence of impact, ensure resources are tested with families for clarity, cultural safety, and practical use, and link resource uptake to AEDC-tracked outcomes.

In short, parents need more than information: they need confidence, clarity, and connection. Thriving Kids can provide that confidence by ensuring every family, regardless of postcode or cultural background, has access to reliable, practical, and affirming resources that allow them to identify concerns early and act decisively to support their child’s development.

2. Effectiveness of current and previous programs

Across Australia and internationally, numerous programs have attempted to identify and support children with developmental delay and autism. Some have been highly effective in embedding early intervention within mainstream settings, while others have struggled due to underfunding, poor integration, or a lack of cultural safety. Families and educators also highlight that, too often, schools are expected to fill service gaps when health and disability systems fall short. While schools play a vital role in supporting children’s development, they are not resourced or staffed to substitute for specialist services, leaving both families and educators under strain.

For Thriving Kids to succeed, it must learn from both successes and failures.

Australian programs and initiatives

a) Connected Beginnings

The Connected Beginnings initiative has demonstrated the benefits of community-led, integrated early years services. By linking health, education, and family support services in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Connected Beginnings has improved school readiness and strengthened family engagement. Importantly, its design acknowledges that culturally safe, trusted services are more effective in reaching families who might otherwise feel excluded. ACSSO sees this as a model worth scaling nationally, with appropriate adaptation for CALD and regional communities.

b) Child and Family Hubs

Emerging models of Child and Family Hubs across several states provide a promising “no wrong door” approach. These hubs co-locate maternal and child health, GPs, allied health, and early education supports, allowing families to access developmental assessments and therapies in one location. Families consistently report that hubs reduce stress, improve coordination, and cut wait times for early support. They also create opportunities for educators and health professionals to collaborate in ways that traditional siloed systems do not.

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c) Inklings (Western Australia)

The Inklings program, cited by Minister Butler, has been particularly effective in embedding allied health professionals directly into the environments where children live, play, and learn. Rather than relying solely on clinic-based models, Inklings builds the capacity of parents and educators to interact in ways that foster communication, social development, and emotional wellbeing. Parents have praised this model because it “meets them where they are” rather than forcing them to navigate fragmented systems.

At the same time, while ACSSO acknowledges the Minister’s confidence in the Inklings program, we also note that community responses have been mixed, particularly from neurodivergent and parent advocacy groups.4,5,6 These concerns highlight the importance of ensuring that early intervention programs are not only evidence-based but also co-designed with the communities most affected and evaluated over the long term to confirm both their effectiveness and safety7,8.

From the perspective of families, confidence in early childhood interventions is strengthened when:

  • The full range of evidence, including long-term developmental outcomes, is transparently communicated9;
  • Programs are explicitly positioned as supporting children’s unique communication and developmental pathways rather than reducing access to diagnosis or services5,6;
  • Families, First Nations communities, and neurodivergent voices are engaged as genuine partners in design, delivery, and evaluation 4,5,6.

ACSSO therefore recommends that, as pilots such as Inklings progress, ongoing evaluation should not only measure developmental outcomes, but also consider family experiences, diagnostic pathways, and alignment with neuroaffirming practice4,5,6. This balanced approach can help ensure that promising interventions are implemented in ways that respect diversity and build trust among families.

d) NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI)

The ECEI approach under the NDIS has provided critical access to therapies for thousands of families. Many parents, like Perth mother Clare McKay10, attribute their child’s developmental progress to supports accessed through the NDIS:

“Having some form of feedback [from my son] was just amazing… He’s happier now, he’s come out of his shell, he’s able to influence the environment around him”.

4 Australian Neurodivergent Parents Association (2024). ANPA warn of Inklings program’s risks to babies. Hippocratic Post. https://www.hippocraticpost.com/australasia/anpa-warn-of-inklings-programs-risks-to-babies 5 Disability Support Guide (2024). Growing pains: The link between Inklings and Thriving Kids. https://www.disabilitysupportguide.com.au/talking-disability/growing-pains-the-link-between-inklings-and-thriving-kids 6 Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4) (2022). Concerns with iBASIS-VIPP and Inklings early intervention trials. https://a4.org.au/node/2615 7 Inklings Program (2024). Frequently Asked Questions. https://inklings.org.au/faq 8 Kids Research Institute (2024). Statement from the Kids Research Institute on Inklings. https://inklings.org.au/news/statement-from-the-kids 9 National Disability Insurance Scheme (2024). Inklings WA Pilot Program. NDIS Research & Evaluation. https://dataresearch.ndis.gov.au/research-and-evaluation/early-interventions-and-high-volume-cohorts/inklings-wa-pilot-program 10 ABC News. (2025, 29 August). Advocates and parents call for more detail on Thriving Kids program amid changes to NDIS. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-29/advocates-call-for-more-detail-on-thriving-kids

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However, parents like Clare also fear that moving to a new system could undo this progress if continuity is not guaranteed.

The NDIS was never designed to support all children with mild to moderate developmental delay, and the system has become strained. Families report long waits, inconsistent quality, and inequities in access depending on where they live. Thriving Kids must retain the strengths of ECEI (individualised plans, timely intervention) while reducing reliance on a disability scheme designed for significant and permanent needs.

International lessons

a) United Kingdom - Sure Start

The UK’s Sure Start Children’s Centres provide a clear lesson on the benefits and risks of integrated, community-based programs. Evaluations found that Sure Start reduced hospitalisations, improved social outcomes, and supported families to access education and work. However, cuts to funding and inconsistent coverage in later years undermined equity of access. The lesson for Australia is clear: integrated models are effective, but they must be sustained and implemented consistently nationwide.

b) United States - IDEA Part C

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C in the US mandates family-centred early intervention services for infants and toddlers with developmental delays. Crucially, outcomes are measured for both children and families, ensuring accountability. Families report that the “family-owned plan” model gives them confidence and clarity in navigating services. This approach could inform Thriving Kids’ transition planning, ensuring that families remain at the centre.

The Productivity Commission’s 2024 inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care explicitly endorses the expansion of universal platforms (i.e. early learning, maternal and child health, and community-based services) as the backbone of equitable early childhood development policy. The report argues that such universal platforms reduce access barriers, especially for families in disadvantaged or remote communities, and that children experiencing disadvantage stand to benefit most from early quality engagement in these settings. Embedding developmental screening and clear referral pathways within those platforms ensures that universal systems not only provide access but also support children who are off track, thereby strengthening both reach and depth of support.11

Gaps and challenges

Despite these promising programs, persistent gaps remain:

  • Workforce shortages: Even successful programs like Inklings are constrained by shortages in speech pathology, occupational therapy, and psychology. Families often face waits of six to 24 months for assessments.
  • Equity of access: Families in rural and remote areas, as well as CALD and First Nations families, report limited availability of services or a lack of cultural safety.
  • Fragmentation: Many families describe having to “start from scratch” when moving between systems, particularly when transitioning from early childhood to school.
  • Short-termism: Programs piloted without long-term funding (or subject to political change) often fail to deliver sustained benefits, as seen in parts of the UK’s Sure Start network.

11 Productivity Commission. (2024, September). A path to universal early childhood education and care: Inquiry Report. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government. https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/childhood/report

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ACSSO position

For Thriving Kids to be effective, it must:

  • Build on existing successful models like Connected Beginnings, Child and Family Hubs, and Inklings.
  • Retain the individualised, family-centred principles of NDIS ECEI while ensuring mainstream services are strengthened.
  • Learn from international evidence that integration and sustainability are critical programs that cannot succeed if they are piecemeal, underfunded, or time-limited.
  • Ensure equity is baked into program design, with strong accountability for reaching First Nations, CALD, rural, and disadvantaged families.

3. Equity and intersectionality

Equity must sit at the heart of the Thriving Kids initiative. Developmental vulnerability is not evenly distributed across the population: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and those living in rural and remote areas are more likely to face barriers in access, affordability, and cultural safety. Without deliberate action, Thriving Kids risks reproducing the same inequities that have long plagued early childhood and disability systems.

First Nations children and families

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, developmental outcomes are deeply shaped by structural disadvantage, systemic racism, and intergenerational trauma. The Closing the Gap targets recognise the importance of ensuring children are on track developmentally at school entry. Yet families consistently report that mainstream systems are not designed with them, and often fail to provide the safe, trusted environments needed for early engagement.

  • Connected Beginnings has demonstrated the power of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) leading local solutions, increasing enrolment in ECEC and supporting smoother transitions into school.
  • These lessons are reinforced by the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 202312, which highlights that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families continue to face systemic barriers in accessing developmental support. These include limited availability of services in remote areas, cultural safety concerns in mainstream settings, and compounded disadvantage when families experience intersecting factors such as poverty or disability. For Thriving Kids to succeed, these barriers must be explicitly addressed through ACCO leadership, sustained funding for community-controlled models, and culturally grounded approaches that embed language, culture, and identity as protective factors.
  • Families and community leaders stress that services must be community-led, culturally grounded, and holistic, embedding language, culture, and identity as protective factors.
  • Consultation must not be tokenistic: co-design with First Nations organisations is essential to prevent Thriving Kids from being experienced as another top-down imposition.

12 Commonwealth of Australia. (2023). Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 2023. Canberra: National Indigenous Australians Agency. https://www.niaa.gov.au/closing-gap/implementation-plan-2023

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Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families

CALD families face systemic barriers that limit access and confidence. Language barriers, unfamiliarity with Australian service systems, and limited availability of interpreters leave many parents unable to navigate supports or advocate effectively for their child.

  • Families have reported being turned away or left on long waiting lists because services were not equipped to provide interpreters or translated resources.
  • Thriving Kids must provide multilingual resources and bicultural support workers so families can identify concerns early and act without delay.
  • Culturally appropriate screening tools, such as adapted Ages and Stages Questionnaires, should be standard across services to reduce misdiagnosis and ensure equity in developmental assessments.

Families in rural and remote areas

Parents in regional and remote areas repeatedly raise the issue of “service deserts.” Even when families know their child needs help, support is often unavailable within hundreds of kilometres.

  • One parent advocate expressed concern that new programs risk becoming another “one-size-fits-all option,” leaving regional families “out of pocket” and without alternatives.
  • Telehealth and outreach models must be embedded into Thriving Kids from the start, backed by workforce incentives to place allied health professionals in rural and remote schools and hubs.

Intersectionality and compounding disadvantage

Many children experience multiple and overlapping barriers. As the Australian Autism Alliance notes, over 95% of autistic people have at least one co-occurring condition and often face discrimination on multiple fronts (disability, poverty, gender, culture). Families in these circumstances cannot afford to navigate fragmented, underfunded systems. Unless explicitly designed to prevent it, Thriving Kids risks deepening inequities.

Cost-of-living pressures

Equity is not only about access but also affordability. Parents already experiencing the squeeze of rising costs report fears of being left to carry more of the financial burden:

“I’m really concerned that we’re going to see families who are already struggling financially through the cost-of-living crisis or who are regional, remote where there’s not a lot of services already… out of pocket.”

Disability advocate Clare Gibellini10

For many families, affordability is the difference between early intervention and no intervention at all. Thriving Kids must ensure services are low or no-cost, particularly for low-income families.

ACSSO position

Thriving Kids must be equity-driven, not equity-neutral. That means:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership through ACCOs and First Nations peak bodies at both national and local levels.
  • Multilingual, culturally safe supports for CALD families, including interpreters, bicultural navigators, and adapted screening tools.
  • Targeted rural and remote strategies, including telehealth, outreach hubs, and funded travel for specialist services.

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  • Explicit cost protections for low-income families, ensuring Thriving Kids does not widen inequities through hidden fees or cost-shifting to families.
  • Intersectional accountability measures, requiring reporting on outcomes across First Nations, CALD, rural/remote, and disadvantaged cohorts.

In short, equity is not an add-on: it is the foundation on which Thriving Kids will stand or fall. Unless designed for inclusion, the program risks replicating the very inequities it was meant to resolve.

4. Workforce support and training

No matter how well-intentioned or well-designed Thriving Kids may be, it will succeed or fail on the strength of the workforce that delivers it. Families consistently tell ACSSO that their greatest frustration is not the absence of diagnosis, but the absence of timely and skilled support once a concern has been raised. Long waitlists, workforce shortages, and underprepared educators leave children without help during the critical window of early development.

The current reality: shortages and long waits

  • Reports show that families wait six to twenty-four months for speech pathology, occupational therapy, or developmental assessments in many parts of Australia.
  • Parents describe being forced to “shop around” for therapists, often at significant personal cost, or driving long distances to access even basic services.
  • Regional and remote families face the most acute shortages, with allied health professionals concentrated in metropolitan areas and little incentive to relocate.

This shortage is not new, but it has been sharpened by rising demand and the complexity of supporting children with developmental delay and autism. The APS has warned that workforce constraints, if not addressed, will undermine the effectiveness of both the NDIS and Thriving Kids.13

Beyond clinical roles: building a tiered workforce

ACSSO supports a tiered workforce model that makes best use of limited clinical expertise, while ensuring families receive practical, timely support. This should include:

  • Therapy assistants and allied health support workers: supervised by registered professionals, these roles can deliver low-intensity interventions, model strategies for families, and reduce pressure on scarce clinicians.
  • Family navigators: independent, trained staff who walk alongside families, helping them understand resources, make referrals, and coordinate plans across health, education, and community sectors.
  • ECEC and school-based outreach: funding teams of allied health professionals to spend dedicated days within ECEC centres and schools, building capacity in educators and supporting children in their everyday environments.

Training educators and school staff

Educators are often the first to raise developmental concerns with families. Yet many report feeling under-prepared and under-confident in identifying red flags, making referrals, or supporting children with additional needs in inclusive classrooms.

  • Micro-credential training should be embedded into Thriving Kids, equipping teachers, early childhood educators, and school leaders with practical knowledge on:
    • identifying developmental differences;
    • using neurodiversity-affirming language;

13 Australian Psychological Society (APS). (2025, 21 August). What you need to know about the Government’s Thriving Kids program. https://psychology.org.au/insights/what-you-need-to-know-about-thriving-kids

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  • making reasonable adjustments in learning and play environments;
  • communicating effectively with families;
  • knowing when and how to refer to health services.
  • This training should be nationally consistent, tied to professional standards, and delivered flexibly (online and in-person) to ensure access for rural and remote educators.

Building pipelines into the future

Australia cannot rely solely on redistributing the current workforce. Thriving Kids must be paired with a long-term pipeline strategy:

  • Clinical student placements in schools, ECEC centres, and hubs, backed by Commonwealth and state incentives, will increase capacity while preparing graduates for real-world practice.
  • Relocation and retention incentives should be provided for allied health professionals in rural and remote areas, including housing, travel subsidies, and professional development opportunities.
  • Career pathways for support roles (therapy assistants, navigators) can create stable employment in local communities, particularly in First Nations and CALD contexts.

Data, evaluation, and accountability

Finally, workforce planning must be evidence-driven. Thriving Kids should establish a national workforce dashboard to monitor:

  • distribution of allied health and support staff;
  • average wait times for assessment and therapy;
  • uptake of professional development by educators;
  • family satisfaction with support received.

This data should be publicly reported, ensuring transparency and accountability across jurisdictions.

ACSSO position

Thriving Kids will only succeed if the workforce is:

  • Expanded through new roles and pipelines, not simply stretched further.
  • Equipped through targeted training that builds educator confidence and cultural safety.
  • Accessible through incentives and placements in rural, remote, and disadvantaged areas.
  • Accountable through transparent reporting on wait times, workforce distribution, and family experience.

Families do not measure success in terms of system design or budget efficiency. They measure it in how long they wait, how far they must travel, and whether the people supporting their child are skilled, caring, and consistent. Thriving Kids must deliver on those expectations.

5. Domestic and international best practice

The Thriving Kids initiative is being launched at a critical juncture. Australia has already invested heavily in early childhood reforms, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the National Autism Strategy. The challenge now is to integrate these efforts into a coherent, sustainable, and equitable system. Internationally, there is rich evidence of what works and what does not when supporting children with developmental differences. Thriving Kids must draw from this knowledge base if it is to succeed.

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Domestic lessons

The NDIS Review (2023)

The Independent Review of the NDIS made a landmark recommendation: to establish a system of foundational supports for children with mild to moderate developmental concerns, delivered outside the NDIS. These supports were to be layered, locally delivered, and embedded in mainstream settings such as health, education, and community hubs. The Review emphasised that without such supports, the NDIS would continue to be flooded with children whose needs, while real, were not consistent with the Scheme’s purpose.

National Autism Strategy (2025-2031)

The Strategy provides a clear, neurodiversity-affirming framework for Thriving Kids. It calls for autism to be understood as a life-long neurodevelopmental difference, not a deficit, and highlights the need for culturally safe, family-centred supports across the lifespan. Thriving Kids must align explicitly with this strategy, ensuring language, resources, and practices avoid pathologising autism or minimising family voice.

Child and Family Hubs

Pilot programs across Australia have shown that hubs that co-locate health, allied health, and early learning services improve access and reduce duplication. Importantly, families value the “one-stop-shop” model that reduces the burden of navigating multiple services. Thriving Kids should not reinvent the wheel but instead scale these models nationally, with sustainable funding and consistent evaluation frameworks.

Connected Beginnings

This program demonstrates how culturally grounded, community-led models can improve developmental and educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Its success highlights that equity must be embedded in program design from the outset, rather than added as an afterthought.

International best practice

United Kingdom - Sure Start

The UK’s Sure Start Children’s Centres provided integrated health, early education, and parenting support in local communities. Longitudinal studies show reductions in hospitalisations, improvements in educational outcomes, and increased parental confidence. However, later funding cuts and inconsistent coverage undermined equity and impact. Australia must avoid repeating this experience, ensuring that any gains achieved through Thriving Kids are sustained through consistent, long-term funding and nationwide coverage. Programs must not be vulnerable to short-term budget decisions if they are to deliver generational change.

United States — IDEA Part C (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)

Part C of IDEA requires states to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers with developmental delays. Its hallmark feature is the family-owned Individualised Family Service Plan (IFSP), which is portable, monitored, and built in partnership with families. Families value the clarity and accountability of this model, and outcomes are measured not only for children but also for family wellbeing. Thriving Kids can learn from this by embedding shared care plans that travel with the child across systems, ensuring families do not have to start over at each transition.

OECD and UNICEF frameworks

Both OECD and UNICEF have highlighted the importance of inclusive early childhood education and care (ECEC) as a driver of equity and long-term success. Key principles include:

  • early identification and support embedded in universal services;
  • family voice and choice as central to program design;

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  • strong data systems to monitor outcomes;
  • equity-focused funding to ensure the most disadvantaged are reached.

These frameworks align closely with ACSSO’s longstanding advocacy for inclusive, affordable, and accessible early education systems.

ACSSO position

Thriving Kids must not become an isolated initiative. To be effective, it must:

  1. Embed NDIS Review principles of layered foundational supports, ensuring clarity about which children are supported by the NDIS and which by Thriving Kids.
  2. Align with the National Autism Strategy, adopting a neurodiversity-affirming approach and ensuring no regression to deficit-based models.
  3. Scale proven domestic models such as Child and Family Hubs and Connected Beginnings, rather than creating new fragmented systems.
  4. Adopt international lessons: from Sure Start (the need for sustained funding and integration), from IDEA Part C (family-owned care plans and accountability), and from OECD/UNICEF (inclusive ECEC as the foundation of equity).
  5. Guarantee sustainability: governments must commit to long-term funding and clear accountability to prevent Thriving Kids from being a short-lived or politically vulnerable initiative.

In short, Australia has the necessary evidence. Families do not want another pilot or short-term reform. They want a system that draws on proven domestic and international best practice, delivered sustainably, equitably, and with families at its heart.

6. Seamless transitions

For families, one of the most exhausting aspects of navigating developmental support is the constant need to “start over” each time a child moves from one setting to another. Whether it is moving from maternal and child health to early childhood education and care (ECEC), from preschool into school, or from the NDIS into mainstream supports, parents report that their child’s history, needs, and progress are too often lost in the handover. This creates stress, delays intervention, and risks children slipping through the cracks at critical developmental stages.

If Thriving Kids is to succeed, it must be designed as a ’no wrong door, no lost child’ system, in which families experience continuity, clarity, and confidence across every transition.

Why seamless transitions matter

  • Early years vulnerability: AEDC data shows increasing numbers of children starting school developmentally vulnerable. If information and supports do not travel with the child, these vulnerabilities become entrenched rather than addressed.
  • Parental trust: Parents are more likely to engage with mainstream supports if they can see that their child’s needs will be understood and respected across different environments.
  • Equity: Families with fewer resources — especially those in rural, remote, First Nations, and CALD communities — are the least able to navigate complex, fragmented systems. Seamless transitions are an equity imperative, not just an efficiency goal.

Core mechanisms for seamless transitions

Family Navigators

  • Independent, trusted professionals who walk alongside families, helping them navigate services, advocate for their child, and ensure continuity of supports.

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  • Navigators should be embedded in Child and Family Hubs, but also linked to schools and ECEC centres to provide continuity at the points families need it most.
  • Parents have consistently called for this kind of role, noting that without guidance they feel abandoned: “It really feels like the rug has been pulled from underneath us”.

Shared Care Plans

  • A single, portable plan, family-owned and digitally accessible, that documents a child’s needs, strategies, and progress.
  • This plan should move seamlessly with the child from health services to ECEC to school, reducing duplication and ensuring that each new setting can build on, not restart, support.
  • Lessons from the US IDEA Part C show that these family-owned plans are highly valued, providing clarity, accountability, and reassurance that services are working together.

No-gap transition safeguards

  • Families must be guaranteed that no child will lose existing supports before new, suitable alternatives are in place.
  • This includes pauses on NDIS reassessments until Thriving Kids services are fully operational and tested.
  • Both CYDA and the Autism Alliance have warned that without these safeguards, families will be left stranded in the gap between schemes.

Integrated digital and physical “front doors”

  • Families should be able to access Thriving Kids supports via multiple pathways: GP clinics, schools, maternal and child health, hubs, and a national online portal.
  • Regardless of entry point, families should receive the same information, referrals, and access to navigators, ensuring true “no wrong door” service.

Accountability and data sharing

  • Seamless transitions require systems that talk to each other. With family consent, data should flow across health, education, and disability sectors.
  • Public reporting of transition metrics such as wait times for assessment, numbers of children moving successfully into school, and family satisfaction should form part of Thriving Kids’ accountability framework.

The risk of not acting

Parents have voiced deep fears that shifting children away from the NDIS into a poorly defined system will leave them starting from scratch. As one parent told ABC News:

“I’m worried about the momentum being broken for not only him but for us as well”.

These are not abstract concerns. They reflect the lived experiences of families who have already endured years of fragmented support. Thriving Kids must not add to that burden.

ACSSO position

To deliver true seamlessness, Thriving Kids must:

  • Fund and embed family navigators as a core workforce role.
  • Create shared care plans that follow the child across all settings.
  • Guarantee no-gap protections, ensuring no child loses supports in transition.
  • Provide multiple, consistent front doors so families can enter the system from wherever they are.
  • Require cross-sector data sharing and public reporting, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement.

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Seamless transitions are not an optional extra. They are the defining feature that will determine whether families experience Thriving Kids as a supportive reform or as another system that fails them.

7. Concerns about rollout and timing

The success of the Thriving Kids initiative will depend as much on its implementation as on its design. Families, advocates, and service providers have already expressed strong concerns that the government-announced timeline, with services due to begin in July 2026 and NDIS access changes following in mid-2027, is unrealistic and risks leaving children and families stranded without adequate support.

The risk of rushing reform

Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA)14 cautioned that attempting to establish a fully functional national system in under twelve months is “simply not feasible” and warned that families could be removed from the NDIS before Thriving Kids is ready to support them. Parents echo these fears. As one Perth mother explained:

“We’ve been on the NDIS for about 12 months now and I was just starting to feel calm, like we had it together. It really feels like the rug has been pulled from underneath us”.

For families already juggling therapies, school transitions, and financial pressures, the prospect of starting again with a new and untested system is overwhelming. Parents emphasise that their children’s developmental progress is fragile, and losing access to supports midstream could undo years of hard work.

Consultation and co-design must not be compressed

Advocates, including the Autism Alliance15, have been clear: genuine co-design with families, disability representative organisations, and service providers takes time. A rushed process risks tokenistic consultation, producing a one-size-fits-all model that fails to reflect the diversity of children’s needs. The principle of “nothing about us, without us” has been repeatedly endorsed by the government, but families are sceptical that a July 2026 launch allows for meaningful engagement.

The absence of clear detail to date has heightened family anxiety. As ABC News reported, the announcement of Thriving Kids “took parents and advocates by surprise,” leaving many families scrambling for information. In this context, moving quickly without clarity risks further eroding trust.

The danger of transition gaps

Perhaps the greatest risk is that children will lose supports before Thriving Kids is fully operational. Both CYDA14 and the Autism Alliance15 have stressed the need for explicit no-gap transition safeguards. This means:

  • Pausing NDIS eligibility reassessments until Thriving Kids services are tested and accessible in all regions.
  • Ensuring children already in therapy under NDIS Early Childhood Early Intervention streams continue to receive supports during the transition.
  • Providing families with clear, written guarantees that their children will not be left without therapy or developmental support.

14 CYDA. (2025, 20 August). Rushed Thriving Kids rollout risks leaving families without critical support. https://cyda.org.au/rushed-thriving-kids-rollout-risks-leaving-families-without-critical-support 15 Australian Autism Alliance. (2025, 20 August). Media Release — Response to “Thriving Kids” Program Announcement. https://www.autismalliance.org.au/media-release-response-thriving-kids

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  • To make these safeguards effective, funding models must be aligned across early intervention, education, and health. Without this alignment, children risk experiencing ‘funding cliffs’ at transition points, where support drops off despite ongoing need.

Without such safeguards, families risk falling into what advocates describe as ‘the gap between schemes’, precisely the situation Thriving Kids was intended to prevent.

The need for phased, realistic rollout

ACSSO supports a phased implementation that prioritises building capacity before withdrawing existing supports. This would include:

  • Pilot programs in selected regions, co-designed and independently evaluated, before scaling nationally.
  • A 12–18 month overlap period where both NDIS and Thriving Kids operate concurrently, giving families time to transition at their own pace.
  • Clear public timelines with milestones for workforce recruitment, service commissioning, and family resource development.

Such a phased approach would reassure families, allow governments to test and refine models, and prevent the program from collapsing under the weight of unrealistic expectations.

ACSSO position

The rollout of Thriving Kids must prioritise certainty, trust, and continuity. Specifically, ACSSO recommends that:

  1. The July 2026 launch date should be reviewed to allow for a staged, evidence-based rollout.
  2. No child is removed from the NDIS until Thriving Kids is proven operational in their region.
  3. Genuine, extended consultation with families, First Nations organisations, CALD communities, and educators is embedded in the design phase.
  4. Transition safeguards are legislated or formally agreed upon, preventing families from being left unsupported.
  5. Pilot evaluations and public reporting will be used to inform each phase of implementation.

Final reflection

Families have described the NDIS as “the only lifeboat in the ocean”. Moving children out of this lifeboat before a safe alternative is ready risks lives being disrupted, progress being lost, and trust being irreparably damaged. ACSSO urges the Inquiry to ensure that rollout timelines are realistic, safeguards are explicit, and families are partners, not passengers, in the journey.

Conclusion and Priority Recommendations

The Thriving Kids initiative has the potential to be a landmark reform in Australia’s early childhood and disability landscape. By shifting from fragmented, diagnosis-driven entry points to a system of integrated, foundational supports, the program could ensure that children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism receive timely, affirming, and effective help.

Yet the opportunity comes with significant risks. Families are deeply anxious about the speed and uncertainty of the rollout, with many fearing they will be left without supports. Advocates and parent voices highlight that a rushed, under-prepared system risks undoing children’s progress and eroding trust. ACSSO shares these concerns. We believe that the success of Thriving

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Kids will depend on whether it is experienced by families as a trusted, equitable, and sustainable reform not simply as a mechanism to reduce NDIS costs.

From the evidence presented, several themes are clear:

  • Parents need clear, evidence-based resources to help them identify developmental concerns and act early, delivered in multiple languages and formats.
  • Programs like Connected Beginnings, Child and Family Hubs, and Inklings show that integrated, local models work, but they must be scaled and sustained.
  • Equity must be designed in from the start: Aboriginal leadership through ACCOs, culturally safe CALD supports, and rural/remote outreach are not optional extras but core requirements.
  • Workforce shortages threaten to derail reform unless new roles (navigators, therapy assistants) and training pipelines are funded.
  • International lessons show that integration (Sure Start), family-owned care plans (IDEA Part C), and inclusive early learning (OECD/UNICEF) are critical to success.
  • Seamless transitions through navigators, portable care plans, and no-gap safeguards are the key test of whether families will trust this reform.
  • Rollout must be phased, realistic, and safeguarded, with no child losing NDIS or existing supports until Thriving Kids is proven operational in their region.

Priority Recommendations

ACSSO calls on the Inquiry to ensure Thriving Kids is delivered in a way that is family-centred, equitable, and sustainable by adopting the following priorities:

Guarantee continuity of support

  • Legislate or formally commit to no-gap protections: no child should be removed from the NDIS or lose supports until Thriving Kids is fully operational and accessible in their community.

Provide trusted, evidence-based family resources

  • Develop a national suite of practical, neurodiversity-affirming resources aligned to AEDC domains.
  • Make resources accessible in multiple languages, formats, and culturally safe versions for First Nations and CALD families.

Build on proven domestic models

  • Scale Child and Family Hubs, Connected Beginnings, and Inklings nationally.
  • Ensure these models are sustainably funded and integrated with schools and ECEC, not isolated pilots.

Embed equity by design

  • Partner with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to lead service design and delivery.
  • Fund interpreter access, bilingual resources, and bicultural navigators for CALD families.
  • Provide telehealth and outreach services, supported by workforce incentives, for rural and remote families.
  • Protect low-income families from cost-shifting and hidden fees.

Strengthen the workforce

  • Expand the workforce through therapy assistants, family navigators, and educator training.
  • Embed micro-credentials for teachers and ECEC staff on developmental concerns and inclusive practice.

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  • Establish student placement pipelines into hubs, schools, and ECEC, with incentives for rural and remote service.
  • Publicly report on wait times, workforce distribution, and family satisfaction.

Learn from international best practice

  • Ensure Thriving Kids mirrors the strengths of UK Sure Start (integration and sustainability), US IDEA Part C (family-owned care plans), and OECD/UNICEF frameworks (inclusive early childhood education as a driver of equity).
  • Avoid short-termism: reforms must be locked into long-term funding agreements across jurisdictions.

Create seamless transitions

  • Embed family navigators as a core role.
  • Introduce portable, family-owned shared care plans that move with the child across health, ECEC, and school systems.
  • Ensure interoperable data systems with family consent, and publish transition outcomes (e.g., AEDC, school readiness, wait times).

Adopt a realistic, phased rollout

  • Begin with pilot regions and independently evaluate outcomes.
  • Allow a 12–18 month overlap period where NDIS and Thriving Kids operate concurrently, to ensure continuity.
  • Publish transparent national milestones for service availability, workforce readiness, and family engagement.

Final Statement

Thriving Kids must be more than a budgetary adjustment. It is an opportunity to embed fairness, equity, and family partnership into the heart of Australia’s early childhood system. Ultimately, children thrive when their families and communities do. A truly successful system will strengthen not only individual services, but also the networks of support surrounding every child.

If implemented carefully, Thriving Kids can ensure no child is left behind and no family feels abandoned. If rushed, underfunded, or poorly coordinated, it risks becoming another lost opportunity or worse, leaving children without the supports they need at the most critical time in their lives.

ACSSO urges the Inquiry to recommend a measured, inclusive, and family-centred implementation that places children’s developmental needs above political or fiscal timetables. We stand ready to work with governments, sectors, and communities to ensure every child in Australia has the chance to thrive.

ACSSO stands ready to contribute to co-design processes and to ensure family voices remain central throughout the implementation of the Thriving Kids initiative.

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References

ABC News. (2025, 21 August). Families on NDIS just want certainty about what Thriving Kids means for their future. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/families-on-ndis-want-certainty-about-thriving-kids

ABC News. (2025, 29 August). Advocates and parents call for more detail on Thriving Kids program amid changes to NDIS. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-29/advocates-call-for-more-detail-on-thriving-kids

Australian Autism Alliance. (2025, 20 August). Media Release — Response to “Thriving Kids” Program Announcement. Retrieved from https://www.autismalliance.org.au/media-release-response-thriving-kids

Australian Neurodivergent Parents Association. (2024). ANPA warn of Inklings program’s risks to babies. Hippocratic Post. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://www.hippocraticpost.com/australasia/anpa-warn-of-inklings-programs-risks-to-babies/

Australian Psychological Society (APS). (2025, 21 August). What you need to know about the Government’s Thriving Kids program. Retrieved from https://psychology.org.au/insights/what-you-need-to-know-about-thriving-kids

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia (A4). (2022). Concerns with iBASIS-VIPP and Inklings early intervention trials. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://a4.org.au/node/2615

Commonwealth of Australia. (2023). Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 2023. Canberra: National Indigenous Australians Agency. Retrieved from https://www.niaa.gov.au/closing-gap/implementation-plan-2023

CYDA. (2025, 20 August). Rushed Thriving Kids rollout risks leaving families without critical support. Retrieved from https://cyda.org.au/rushed-thriving-kids-rollout-risks-leaving-families-without-critical-support

Department of Health. (2025, August). Thriving Kids Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/thriving-kids-fact-sheet

Disability Support Guide. (2024). Growing pains: The link between Inklings and Thriving Kids. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://www.disabilitysupportguide.com.au/talking-disability/growing-pains-the-link-between-inklings-and-thriving-kids

Goldfeld, S., & West, S. (2015). Early childhood development and the social determinants of health inequities. Melbourne: Centre for Community Child Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Retrieved from https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/ccch/151014_Evidence-review-early-childhood-development-and-the-social-determinants-of-health-inequities_Sept2015.pdf

Inklings Program. (2024). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://inklings.org.au/faq

Kids Research Institute. (2024). Statement from the Kids Research Institute on Inklings. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://inklings.org.au/news/statement-from-the-kids

National Disability Insurance Scheme. (2024). Inklings WA Pilot Program. NDIS Research & Evaluation. Retrieved September 2025 from: https://dataresearch.ndis.gov.au/research-and-evaluation/early-interventions-and-high-volume-cohorts/inklings-wa-pilot-program

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Productivity Commission. (2024, September). A path to universal early childhood education and care: Inquiry Report. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government. Retrieved from https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/childhood/report

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