Thriving Kids in NSW: What We Know So Far

Thriving Kids starts rolling out in NSW from October 2026. Here is what has actually been announced, what the NSW timeline looks like, what is still undecided, and what it means for families of young children.

If you have a young child in the NDIS, or you have been thinking about applying, you have probably heard the words Thriving Kids by now. There is a lot of commentary about it and not all of it is accurate, partly because the program has been announced in stages and some of the early reporting has been overtaken by later decisions.

This post sets out what has actually been confirmed, with a focus on how it will work in NSW. Everything here is current as of August 2026, drawn from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the NDIS, and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, which is running the rollout in this state. Where something has not been decided yet, we say so rather than guessing.

What Thriving Kids is

Thriving Kids is a new national system of supports for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs, along with their families, carers and kin. It is the first phase of what governments call Foundational Supports, a set of community-based services that sit outside the NDIS, and it responds to a recommendation of the Independent Review into the NDIS that governments fund supports beyond the Scheme itself.

The idea is early identification and support delivered in the places children already are, meaning early learning services, schools, community health, and the family home, rather than through an individual NDIS plan.

• Governments have jointly committed $4 billion over five years, made up of a $2 billion Commonwealth contribution matched by the states and territories
• At least $1.4 billion of the Commonwealth's $2 billion will go to states as direct funding for Thriving Kids services
• A further $600 million has been allocated nationally for national initiatives
• Children with permanent and significant disability, and children aged 8 and under with substantially reduced functional capacity, remain eligible for the NDIS under the usual arrangements

It was first announced by Minister Mark Butler at the National Press Club in August 2025, with the program design released in February 2026. The original start date of July 2026 was moved to 1 October 2026 to give states more time to prepare, so some older articles still quote the earlier date.

The NSW timeline

NSW is delivering Thriving Kids in two stages, and the two stages are quite different in what they offer.

• From October 2026: general supports become available for families with concerns about their child's development
• From January 2027: targeted supports become available for children who need extra help for a specific period
• By 1 January 2028: the program is expected to be operating at full scale nationally

That staging matters. The first thing to arrive in NSW is not therapy. It is community-level support for families, with individual and group therapy following about three months later.

General supports, from October 2026

General supports are open to families who have concerns about their child's development, and are being delivered by non-government organisations in local communities. What has been confirmed for NSW is peer support and parenting programs for parents, and supported playgroups for children aged 5 and under.

Targeted supports, from January 2027

Targeted supports are goal-focused and time-limited, for children who need extra help for a specific period. Based on what NSW has published, they include:

• Allied health therapies delivered by qualified clinicians, either individually or in small, play-based groups
• Coordination of a family's Thriving Kids supports
• Information, advice and referrals to help families understand development and find help early
• Low-cost assistive technology in some circumstances, to support development goals

Access to targeted supports will run through a central intake process managed by the Department of Communities and Justice, rather than families approaching providers directly.

Who will deliver it in NSW

Services will be delivered by non-government organisations commissioned by DCJ, and in some locations directly by NSW Government agencies. DCJ ran an expression of interest process for providers in mid-2026, with a tender phase following, so the list of who is actually delivering what in each area is still being settled.

NSW has committed up to $1,074.3 million over the first five years to 30 June 2031, made up of $631.9 million from the NSW Government and $442.4 million from the Commonwealth. DCJ has been explicit that services must be delivered within a capped funding envelope, which is worth knowing, because unlike an NDIS plan this is a finite pool rather than an individual entitlement.

What happens to the NDIS

This is where most of the anxiety sits, so it is worth being precise. Changes to NDIS access will not commence until 1 January 2028, and they will require amendments to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013. Governments have agreed in principle to these changes, but the legislation is the mechanism, and it has to pass.

• The changes are limited to children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs
• They are intended to apply to children seeking to become participants after 1 January 2028
• Children aged 8 and under who are already NDIS participants as at 1 January 2028 continue under the current access criteria
• Children with high support needs, and children with permanent and significant disability, remain eligible for the NDIS

In short, if your child is on the NDIS now, they are not being moved off by default, and nothing changes this year or next. Plan reviews and reassessments continue as normal, which they always have.

What is still unknown

A fair amount, and we would rather say that plainly than imply more certainty than exists.

• Where exactly the line falls between low to moderate and high support needs, and how that judgement will be made
• How the DCJ central intake will assess and prioritise children for targeted supports
• How much therapy a family can expect, over what period, and what happens when the capped funding is fully committed
• Which organisations will hold contracts in each part of Sydney, including the Eastern Suburbs
• Whether a diagnosis will be needed for targeted supports; general supports are open to families with concerns about development
• What the pathway looks like for children who age out at nine, or who move from Thriving Kids to the NDIS after a change in needs

What this means for families of young children

For most families the practical advice is unchanged for now, but there are a few things worth doing while the system is being built.

• If your child has an NDIS plan, keep using it. Nothing changes until 2028, and existing participants keep the current access criteria
• Keep your own records. Reports, assessments, therapy summaries and school or preschool observations will be useful whichever system your child ends up in
• If you have concerns about development, act on them now rather than waiting for October. Early support is the whole rationale for the reform, and existing pathways still work
• Do not delay an assessment on the assumption that Thriving Kids will cover it. Diagnostic assessment has not been announced as part of the program
• Subscribe to the DCJ and Commonwealth mailing lists rather than relying on social media summaries, which have repeatedly been out of date

For our part, therapy and assessment at Ivy Psychology are unaffected by any of this. We see children privately and with Medicare rebates for therapy, and our assessment work sits outside both the NDIS and Thriving Kids. If your child is receiving NDIS behaviour support with us, that continues as it is.

Key voices to follow online

A lot of the useful commentary on Thriving Kids is happening on LinkedIn ahead of the official updates, and these are three accounts worth following if you want to track how the reform develops.

• Chantelle Robards on LinkedIn
• Trystan Conway on LinkedIn
• Dr Fiona Martin on LinkedIn

Where to read it yourself

Every fact in this post comes from one of these sources. If you want the primary material, start here.

• Thriving Kids in NSW - Department of Communities and Justice
• Thriving Kids - Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
• Thriving Kids - NDIS

In summary

Thriving Kids is real, funded, and coming to NSW in stages, with general supports from October 2026, therapy and targeted supports from January 2027, and full scale by January 2028. NDIS access changes are legislated separately and do not start until 2028, and they do not apply to children already in the Scheme. The detail that matters most to individual families, meaning who assesses eligibility and how much support is available, has not been published yet.

We will update this post as NSW releases more. If you are trying to work out what to do for your own child in the meantime, that is a conversation worth having now rather than in 2028.