If you have a young child with autism or a developmental delay, you have probably heard that something is changing, and you may have heard it in a way that sounded alarming. Here is what Thriving Kids actually is, in plain language, along with the dates that matter and what to do if your child is already on the NDIS.
What Thriving Kids actually is
Thriving Kids is a new way for young children to get support without going through the NDIS first. Governments have agreed to put money into services that sit outside the scheme, called foundational supports, and Thriving Kids is the first stage of that.
The Commonwealth, states and territories have jointly committed $4 billion over five years to it. The point of the change is that a lot of families currently have to get a diagnosis and apply to the NDIS before anyone will help them, and that process can take a year. Thriving Kids is meant to remove that wait, so a parent who is worried about their two year old's speech can get help early rather than after a long assessment queue.
That is the intention. Whether it works well will depend on how the services are actually set up in each state, and that work is still being finalised.
Who this affects, and who it does not
This is the part that causes the most worry, so it is worth being precise.
- Affected: children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and or autism, where their support needs are low to moderate. From 1 October 2026, these children start accessing support through Thriving Kids.
- Not affected: children with permanent and significant disability. That includes children with developmental delay or autism whose support needs are high. They continue to be eligible for the NDIS under the usual arrangements.
- Not affected: everyone aged 9 and over.
So if your child has substantial support needs, the NDIS is not being taken away from them. The change targets the group the scheme was arguably never designed to carry long term, and it is meant to give that group somewhere better to go.
The dates that matter
- 1 October 2026. Thriving Kids services begin rolling out. Children 8 and under with low to moderate support needs start being able to access them.
- 1 January 2028. Thriving Kids is expected to be fully rolled out and operating at scale.
- 1 January 2028. NDIS access arrangements for children are also set to change from this date. Those changes require amendments to the NDIS Act, so they are not final yet.
The gap between those two dates is deliberate. The idea is that the new services have to exist and be working before the NDIS door narrows, so families are not left with nothing in between.
If your child is already on the NDIS
This is the reassurance most parents are looking for, and it is written into the agreement.
Children enrolled in the NDIS before 1 January 2028 will have their reassessments made under the eligibility criteria that were in place before that date. In practice, that means your child's existing plan is not about to be reassessed against a tougher new test because of this reform.
If your child is already a participant, the sensible thing is not to panic and not to rush. Keep using the plan you have, keep your evidence up to date the way you always would, and watch for the detail as the rules are finalised. If you want to understand how eligibility is assessed more broadly, our 2026 guide to NDIS eligibility and access walks through what the NDIA is actually looking at.
What Liverpool families can do now
A few practical things, in rough order of usefulness.
- Do not wait for a diagnosis to ask for help. One of the genuine improvements here is that Thriving Kids is designed to be reachable without a diagnosis and without an NDIS application. If you are worried about your child's development, raise it with your GP, your child and family health nurse, or your early childhood centre now.
- Write down what you notice. Not medical language, just plain observations. What your child can do, what they find hard, what a difficult morning looks like. This is useful for any pathway, whether it ends up being Thriving Kids or the NDIS.
- Keep your existing appointments. If your child already sees a speech pathologist or occupational therapist, keep going. Nothing about this change stops those supports today.
- Check the source before you act on a rumour. There is a lot of second hand information circulating, some of it wrong. The official Thriving Kids page is the place to confirm anything you hear.
Getting help in your language
Around Liverpool, Fairfield and Cabramatta, a very large number of families are doing this in a second or third language. That matters here, because a change like this gets explained in policy English first and community languages much later, if at all.
Two things worth knowing. Free interpreters are available for your dealings with the NDIA, and you are entitled to ask for one rather than relying on a relative to translate a complicated conversation. And a local team that already works with your community can often tell you what is actually happening on the ground in South West Sydney, rather than what a national fact sheet says.
Our Family and Child Support team works with parents across Liverpool on exactly this: early concerns, early intervention, and working out which door to knock on. If you want to talk it through with someone based here in Liverpool, rather than a call centre, we are happy to help even if you never become a client.
The honest summary
If your child has high support needs, the NDIS is not going anywhere for them. If your child has lower support needs, there will be a different and hopefully faster route from October 2026, and if they are already on a plan, they are protected by the pre 2028 criteria.
The detail is still being finalised, so treat anyone speaking with total certainty about how this will work in practice with some caution, including us. What we can say is that we will keep this page updated as the rules land, and that if you are worried right now, a conversation costs nothing.
Ready to take the next step?
Our Liverpool team is here to listen and help, in your language, at your pace.
