Thriving Kids has officially begun rolling out. But if you are a parent or clinician wondering how to actually access it, you are not alone.
On the 1st of October 2026, I called the telephone service being promoted in relation to the new Thriving Kids program.
I’m a paediatric Speech Pathologist and Audiologist and the Director of Speak Listen Learn, a private paediatric allied health practice in Frenchs Forest, Sydney.
I wasn’t calling with a complicated policy question.
I wanted an answer to something very practical:
Where do I refer a three-year-old with developmental delay who needs early intervention, but does not meet the threshold for NDIS access?
After a lengthy conversation, consultation with colleagues and searching through the available government information, the nurse on the phone couldn’t tell me.
And that is a problem.
What is Thriving Kids?
Thriving Kids is a major new Commonwealth and state government initiative intended to provide support for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have “low-to-moderate support needs” (this isn’t defined…).
These are children who may benefit substantially from early intervention but who do not necessarily have the level of permanent and significant disability required to access the NDIS.
Conceptually, this makes a lot of sense.
The NDIS was never intended to be the only system supporting every child with a developmental difference or delay. Children should be able to access appropriate developmental and early intervention supports outside the NDIS.
The difficulty is working out where those supports actually are.
The children we are seeing now
As a paediatric speech pathologist, this isn’t a hypothetical concern.
We see young children with significant developmental needs who require intervention.
Imagine a three-year-old with significant speech and language delay alongside delays in other developmental areas.
Historically, that child would have been supported with an individualised plan and services through the NDIS Early Childhood pathway. Families would have choice of provider and could seek out the services that best met the needs of their child.
Increasingly, however, families are finding that children with mild-to-moderate developmental needs do not meet the threshold for NDIS access (despite claims that the criteria hasn’t changed YET).
That may ultimately be entirely consistent with the intended role of the NDIS.
But there needs to be somewhere else for those children to go.
Thriving Kids appears to be intended to fill precisely that space.
So where do we refer them?
I tried to find out
Before making the call, I had already searched the Commonwealth Thriving Kids information, the NSW information and the information provided for health professionals.
I kept going around in circles.
Information about accessing support now seemed to lead back to existing services, including the NDIS.
There was plenty of information explaining what Thriving Kids is intended to become, but I couldn’t find the practical information I needed as a clinician:
Who do I refer to?
Is there an intake service?
Is there a referral form?
Is there a local provider?
What service am I actually referring the child to?
When I saw publicity referring people to a telephone service for Thriving Kids enquiries, I thought I had finally found the answer.
So I called.
The person answering the phone couldn’t find the pathway either
I want to be very clear about this part.
The nurse I spoke with was lovely.
She was helpful, engaged, empathetic and genuinely tried to answer my questions. This isn’t criticism of her.
In fact, that’s what made the conversation concerning.
Initially, she understood Thriving Kids to apply only to children aged 6-8 years.
I explained that the published information describes Thriving Kids as supporting children aged 8 and under, including young children with developmental delay.
She checked.
Then she consulted colleagues.
Then she searched the government information available to her.
We looked at essentially the same information I had already found.
And eventually we arrived at the same problem:
There was nowhere she could tell me to refer this three-year-old.
At one point, after discussing the situation, she simply said:
“It’s not good enough.”
I agreed.
Thriving Kids has started. But what has actually started?
This is where things become particularly confusing for families.
Thriving Kids is being described as commencing progressively from October 2026.
In NSW, targeted allied health supports are expected to begin from January 2027 through a central intake process managed by the Department of Communities and Justice. The Government has made it clear that these services will NOT be offered through private providers.
The NSW Government information also states that further information about eligibility, intake and referral pathways will be published as services become available.
That helps explain why I couldn’t find the referral pathway.
It doesn’t appear to exist yet.
But that raises another question:
What are families supposed to do in the meantime?
Children aren’t waiting until January.
Development isn’t waiting until 2027.
And families certainly aren’t waiting until the full Thriving Kids transition in 2028.
The NDIS issue makes this more urgent
The Commonwealth has stated that changes to NDIS access associated with Thriving Kids will not commence until the 1st of January 2028.
That is important.
But it doesn’t completely resolve what clinicians are seeing now.
Children with developmental delay can already be found ineligible for the NDIS under the existing access criteria. And we are seeing this more and more.
That leaves a group of children who:
- have genuine developmental delays;
- need early intervention;
- don’t meet the threshold for NDIS access;
- appear to fit the population Thriving Kids has been designed to support; and
- currently don’t have an obvious Thriving Kids pathway to access.
That is the gap I am concerned about.
Parents are understandably confused
This is also putting private clinicians in a difficult position.
Families hear announcements about billions of dollars being invested in Thriving Kids and a new system designed to support children with developmental delay.
They then sit in our clinic and ask:
“Can we access Thriving Kids?”
That’s a completely reasonable question.
At the moment, I don’t have a satisfactory answer.
And understandably, some parents are frustrated.
From their perspective, they’ve been told there is a new support system. Their child needs help. Their child may not qualify for the NDIS.
So where is the new support?
As clinicians, we need to be able to answer that question.
Early intervention is time-sensitive
This is the part that matters most.
For a three-year-old with developmental delay, six months is significant.
A year is significant.
Two years is enormous.
Early childhood is a period of rapid development. Identifying a child’s needs early is only useful if identification leads to appropriate support.
We cannot build a system around the importance of early identification and then leave clinicians unable to tell families where to go once those needs have been identified.
I have asked the Government for answers
Following the call, I wrote to relevant State and Federal representatives and ministers responsible for Thriving Kids, disability and the NDIS.
I have asked five very straightforward questions:
- Where should a NSW clinician refer a child aged under 8 with developmental delay and/or autism and low-to-moderate support needs today, if that child does not meet NDIS access requirements?
- What Thriving Kids services can a child in NSW actually access now, and how does a family access them?
- If targeted allied health supports do not commence until January 2027, what publicly funded early intervention pathway is available to these children in the meantime?
- When will the NSW central intake and referral pathway become operational, and when will clinicians receive practical referral information?
- What should GPs, paediatricians, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and other frontline clinicians tell families today when a child needs intervention, doesn’t receive NDIS access, and appears to fit the intended Thriving Kids cohort?
You can read the letter in full below.
What should families do now?
For families reading this, I don’t want the message to be that there is no support available.
There are existing health, community, education and private allied health services that may be appropriate depending on your child’s age, needs and circumstances.
However, Thriving Kids is still being progressively implemented, and the practical pathways available to individual children are not yet as clear as the publicity surrounding the program might suggest.
If your child has developmental difficulties, don’t delay seeking advice while waiting for Thriving Kids.
Speak with your GP, paediatrician, child and family health service or relevant allied health professional about your child’s individual needs and the services currently available to them.
We will keep families updated
Thriving Kids has the potential to significantly change how Australian children with developmental differences and delays access support.
Getting that system right matters.
It also matters that families and the professionals supporting them receive clear, practical information during the transition.
Not just information about what the system will look like.
We need to know what to do today.
When we receive further clarification about the NSW referral pathway and what services Northern Beaches families can currently access, we will update this page.
Michelle Thompson-Laing
Speech Pathologist & Audiologist
Clinical Director, Speak Listen Learn
Frenchs Forest, Sydney
