Australia’s new Thriving Kids program is moving closer to implementation, with the first supports due to begin rolling out from 1 October 2026.
The program is intended to create a new pathway of early developmental support for children aged eight and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs. It forms part of the broader move to establish more disability and developmental supports outside the NDIS.
But with the first services approaching, some autism and early-intervention experts say significant practical questions remain about how the new system will work.
A report published by MJA InSight+ on 7 September highlighted concerns about assessment, workforce arrangements, the intensity of supports and differences between state and territory delivery models. Experts interviewed for the report said they support the principle of earlier and more accessible intervention, but want greater clarity about what families will experience in practice.
At the same time, governments have now confirmed considerably more about the structure of Thriving Kids than was known when the initiative was first announced.
So what do families, NDIS participants and providers actually know, and what remains unresolved?
What Is Thriving Kids?
Thriving Kids is the first major phase of the Australian Government’s broader Foundational Supports reforms.
The program is intended to support children aged eight and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs, along with their families, carers and kin.
Australian, state and territory governments have committed a combined $4 billion over five years to the initiative. The Commonwealth is contributing $2 billion, with at least $1.4 billion of that amount to be provided directly to states for Thriving Kids services.
The aim is to make developmental assistance more readily available outside individual NDIS plans and, where possible, in the everyday settings where children already spend their time.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing says the national model will include supports delivered where children “live, learn and play”, with services progressively expanding between October 2026 and January 2028.
What supports are expected to be available?
The government has now outlined the broad types of assistance expected to form part of Thriving Kids.
State and territory governments are expected to provide child health and developmental checks, information to help families navigate services, programs that build families’ capacity to support their child, and targeted assistance such as allied health, capacity-building supports and some low-cost assistive technology.
Governments have agreed on a national model, meaning families should have access to broadly similar types of support across Australia.
However, states and territories will retain flexibility in how those services are delivered locally. That means the exact providers, referral pathways and service models may differ depending on where a child lives.
That distinction is important when considering some of the concerns now being raised.
The overall framework is becoming clearer. The operational detail is still developing.
Why are autism experts asking for more detail?
The MJA InSight+ report focuses on the gap between the broad policy framework and what practitioners need to know to confidently understand how the system will work for individual children.
Psychologist and autism specialist Dr. Amanda Mazzoni told the publication that questions remain about assessment, service delivery, workforce responsibilities and the frequency and intensity of intervention.
She also raised questions about who will determine the level of support a child requires and how decisions will take account of a child’s functioning across different environments, such as home, school and the community.
Professor David Trembath, who was involved in developing national guidance for supporting autistic children, has separately questioned how easily children can be divided into categories such as low, moderate and high support needs.
His concern, as reported by InSight+, is that some children could sit between the intended Thriving Kids cohort and NDIS eligibility if the pathways between the two systems are not carefully designed.
These are not minor administrative questions.
They go to the heart of whether families will experience Thriving Kids as a simpler route to early support or another system they have to learn to navigate.
What has been confirmed?
It is important to distinguish these unresolved implementation questions from the elements of the program that governments have already settled.
National Cabinet has agreed to the final design of Thriving Kids, and the first services are scheduled to commence from 1 October 2026, with the program progressively expanding until full implementation by 1 January 2028.
The government has also made an important distinction about who will remain supported through the NDIS.
Children with a permanent and significant disability, including children with developmental delay and/or autism who have high support needs, will continue to be eligible for the NDIS subject to the scheme’s eligibility requirements.
Thriving Kids is therefore not a replacement for the NDIS for every autistic child or every child with developmental delay.
Its stated focus is children with low to moderate support needs who may be better supported through a broader community-based early-development system.
What happens to children already on the NDIS?
This is likely to be one of the most important questions for families.
The commencement of Thriving Kids in October does not mean every child in the target age group will suddenly lose their existing NDIS plan.
The government has stated that children aged under nine who are enrolled in the NDIS before 1 January 2028, and who have developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs, will be subject to the usual reassessment criteria that apply before that date.
The broader transition is intended to take place progressively as Thriving Kids services become established.
For families, this distinction matters because headlines about children “moving off the NDIS” can make the reform sound more immediate and automatic than the published policy currently indicates.
There may still be changes for individual children over time, particularly as eligibility is reassessed and alternative supports become available.
But those decisions need to be understood within the formal eligibility and transition arrangements rather than assumed from the fact that Thriving Kids begins rolling out in October.
Why early intervention is at the centre of the reform
Despite the concerns about implementation, there is broad recognition of the problem Thriving Kids is attempting to address.
For many families, the NDIS has become one of the principal routes to accessing developmental assistance for young children.
That has contributed to pressure on the scheme while also creating situations where families may feel they need a diagnosis or an NDIS application before they can access meaningful help.
The Independent Review of the NDIS identified the need for stronger supports outside the scheme and argued that children with developmental delay should be able to access help through a more connected mainstream and community system. The Department says this review helped inform the development of Thriving Kids.
In principle, making developmental checks, allied health assistance and family support easier to access earlier could be positive.
A child should not necessarily have to wait for a complex disability funding process before receiving appropriate developmental support.
The challenge is ensuring that the alternative system is genuinely available when families need it.
The practical challenge will be access, not just program design
The success of Thriving Kids will ultimately depend on much more than the wording of a national policy.
A program can identify the right objectives and still struggle if there are not enough practitioners to deliver it.
The Parliamentary inquiry into Thriving Kids identified three recurring issues in evidence from stakeholders: early intervention, workforce capacity and service delivery, and transition from existing systems into Thriving Kids.
Those issues remain highly relevant as implementation approaches.
For a family, the practical questions are likely to be straightforward:
- How do we enter the system?
- Who assesses our child?
- How long will we wait?
- What support will actually be available?
- How frequently can our child receive it?
- What happens if their needs become more complex?
- And what happens if the available local service does not meet those needs?
The answers will depend not only on national policy but on workforce numbers, local commissioning arrangements and the systems each state and territory creates.
Will Thriving Kids be the same in every state?
Not exactly.
Governments have agreed to a national model, but states and territories will tailor delivery to local circumstances.
That flexibility has potential advantages.
Different communities have different service systems, populations and workforce challenges, and a rigid national delivery model may not always work equally well everywhere.
But variation also creates risks.
If eligibility pathways, assessment arrangements or service availability differ substantially between jurisdictions, families may have very different experiences depending on where they live.
The InSight+ report reflects this concern, with experts questioning whether different state approaches could produce inconsistent service access and quality.
The government says the national model is intended to provide consistency in the types of supports available, even where the method of delivery differs.
How successfully that balance works will become clearer only as services begin operating.
What does this mean for families?
For parents and carers, there are two messages worth holding at the same time.
First, there is no reason to assume that the beginning of Thriving Kids on 1 October means an immediate end to a child’s existing NDIS support.
Implementation will be staged, and the government has published transition arrangements for children already enrolled in the NDIS.
Second, it is reasonable for families to continue asking detailed questions.
Knowing that allied health or developmental supports will exist is not the same as knowing what will be available in a particular suburb, how long a family will wait, or how much assistance an individual child will receive.
Those details matter enormously.
Families should continue relying on official information from the NDIS, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and their relevant state or territory government as implementation develops.
What does this mean for NDIS and disability providers?
For responsible NDIS providers, allied health professionals and other practitioners, Thriving Kids represents a significant change in the structure surrounding early childhood support.
Some children who might previously have received services largely through individual NDIS funding may increasingly receive assistance through commissioned or community-based programs outside the scheme.
Exactly how this affects individual providers will depend on the funding and commissioning arrangements adopted by each jurisdiction.
But the broader service-delivery requirements remain familiar.
Good early intervention requires appropriately skilled workers, sound assessment, evidence-based practice, safeguarding, communication with families and coordination between health, education, disability and community services.
Continuity also matters.
Children’s support needs can change, and a successful system will need effective pathways in both directions between Thriving Kids and the NDIS.
The government says it will continue working with the NDIA to help families move between different supports where required.
From a provider perspective, that coordination may prove just as important as the design of the individual programs themselves.
A more balanced view of the current debate
It would be premature to conclude that Thriving Kids will fail because clinicians still have questions.
It would be equally premature to conclude that the new system will work smoothly simply because its national architecture has now been agreed.
Both positions overlook the complexity of implementing a reform of this scale.
The government has moved beyond the initial announcement. There is now a national model, a funding commitment, an implementation timetable and greater clarity about the broad supports the program will offer.
But experts are identifying a different issue: whether the operational detail is sufficiently clear close to the start of rollout.
That concern deserves attention without turning uncertainty into alarm.
The real test of Thriving Kids will be whether families can access timely, appropriate and high-quality support once the program moves from policy documents into everyday service delivery.
What happens next?
The first Thriving Kids supports are due to begin from 1 October 2026.
Services will then expand progressively, with full rollout scheduled for January 2028.
The Department says engagement will continue with families, carers, professionals, disability organisations, communities and experts during implementation. Governments will also continue working on coordination between state services and the NDIS.
That ongoing process will be important because many of the most significant questions are now practical rather than conceptual.
Families will want to see clear entry pathways.
Clinicians will want confidence in assessment and evidence standards.
Providers will need certainty about service models and responsibilities.
And governments will need to demonstrate that children do not fall into gaps between systems.
Staying Informed About Thriving Kids
The principle behind Thriving Kids is understandable: children should be able to access appropriate developmental support as early as possible, and the NDIS should not have to carry responsibility for every form of early childhood developmental assistance.
But changing where support is funded does not, by itself, guarantee better support.
The quality of Thriving Kids will ultimately depend on whether families can access appropriate services when they need them, whether the workforce can meet demand and whether pathways between the program and the NDIS are clear and responsive when a child’s needs change.
As implementation begins, families deserve both reassurance and transparency.
There is now more certainty about what Thriving Kids is intended to become. The next challenge is ensuring that the system families experience in practice lives up to that design.
