Thriving Kids is the first phase of Australia’s Foundational Supports reform. From 1 October 2026 it becomes the main pathway for children aged 8 and under who have developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs. Governments have jointly committed $4 billion over five years to it, and full rollout is scheduled for 1 January 2028.

If you are a parent trying to work out what this means for your child, the short version is this: children with higher support needs stay with the NDIS, children with lower support needs will increasingly be supported through Thriving Kids instead of an individual NDIS plan, and you do not need a diagnosis to get help.

Do not wait for Thriving Kids to start before seeking support. Early Childhood Intervention Australia has documented families being told their child “is eligible for Thriving Kids” and advised to hold off on getting help now. ECIA has stated plainly that this is not correct. Current NDIS access arrangements have not changed, and nothing about the Thriving Kids rollout stops you acting on a developmental concern today.

What Thriving Kids actually is

Thriving Kids is a government-funded system of supports delivered through the places families already go: schools and early learning settings, GPs, clinics and community hubs. It covers 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.

The model is deliberately different from an individual NDIS plan. Rather than one-to-one clinic therapy being the default, Thriving Kids puts more weight on building the capability of the adults around a child: parents, carers and educators. Allied health professionals such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists are part of it, and support can be delivered individually or in small group, play-based sessions, but their role leans toward coaching and enabling rather than being the only way support is delivered.

General supports and targeted supports

Thriving Kids has two tiers, and you will hear both terms at intake:

  • General supports are open access: supported playgroups, peer support, parenting programs, and information, advice and referral.
  • Targeted supports are for children who need more: group and one-on-one allied health delivered by qualified clinicians such as occupational therapists, speech pathologists, physiotherapists, audiologists and psychologists, and in some cases low-cost assistive technology, aids or equipment.

The tiers matter because they arrive at different times. In New South Wales, for example, October 2026 brings general supports only. Allied health therapies through Thriving Kids do not begin there until January 2027, with access managed through a central intake process run by the Department of Communities and Justice. If you are expecting speech therapy to be available through Thriving Kids the week it launches, check what your own state is actually commissioning first.

Who is eligible

Eligibility rests on two things: age and level of support need.

  • Age: children aged 8 and under.
  • Support need: developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs.
  • Diagnosis: not required. Access is based on a child’s developmental support needs rather than a diagnostic label.

That last point is a genuine change worth understanding. Under the NDIS Early Childhood Approach many families felt pushed toward getting a formal diagnosis to unlock support. Thriving Kids is designed so that a child showing developmental concerns can be helped without that step.

One caveat: no diagnosis does not mean no assessment. Targeted supports are to be accessed through what the department calls nationally consistent functional needs identification and triage arrangements. The tool that will decide what counts as low to moderate support needs is still being designed, and no threshold has been published.

What happens to the NDIS

This is the question most families ask, and the department has answered the urgent part of it plainly. Its Thriving Kids page states: “There are no changes to how people access the NDIS until 1 January 2028.”

So if your child is on the NDIS today, October 2026 does not change their plan, their eligibility or their supports. Nothing is being taken away in six weeks. The rest of this section is about what happens after that.

Children with permanent and significant disability continue to access the NDIS under the usual arrangements. So do children aged 8 and under whose functional capacity is substantially reduced, meaning higher support needs. Nothing about Thriving Kids removes the NDIS for those children.

For children with low to moderate support needs, Thriving Kids becomes the pathway instead of an individual NDIS plan. This is the part of the reform that has drawn the most attention from families and peak bodies, because it changes where a large group of children get their support from. The transition runs across the rollout period rather than happening on a single day.

It is also not yet law. The change to NDIS access has been agreed by all governments, but it depends on amendments to the NDIS Act still before the Senate. The bill passed the House of Representatives on 2 July 2026 after 30 amendments were agreed, and the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee reported on 14 August 2026 recommending that it be passed, over objections from disability representative organisations including People with Disability Australia. At the time of writing the Senate has completed only the first reading, so the bill has not passed. Children already enrolled in the NDIS before 1 January 2028 are to be reassessed under the eligibility criteria in place on 31 December 2027.

One more thing separates Thriving Kids from the NDIS, and it is easy to miss. The NDIS is a demand-driven entitlement: if you meet the criteria, you are in. Thriving Kids is funded from a capped pool, $4 billion over five years split evenly between the Commonwealth and the states, and the bilateral agreements state explicitly that these supports “are not demand-driven entitlements”. In practice that means availability in your area depends on what has been commissioned there, which is why the next section matters as much as the eligibility rules.

Should we keep applying for the NDIS, or wait for Thriving Kids?

This is the question families are asking most often, usually after a knock-back, and the answer is not balanced. Keep going with the NDIS.

Thriving Kids does not exist yet. There is no service to join, no provider list and no intake process, and the assessment tool that will decide who counts as low to moderate support needs has not been published. Nothing about waiting improves your position, and a child who turns 9 while waiting has left the early childhood cohort entirely.

Meanwhile the NDIS is still operating under its current rules. Autism at Level 2 or 3 remains a List A condition, meaning it is likely to meet the disability requirements. If your child has been refused and you believe the decision is wrong, the internal review pathway is open now, and there are time limits on it.

The practical answer is to keep the NDIS application or review moving, keep any therapy you have in place, and treat Thriving Kids as something that may add options later rather than something to hold out for.

Plans being cut right now is a separate thing

Families are reporting reassessments and reduced plans in 2026, and understandably connecting that to Thriving Kids. They are different, and the distinction matters if you are trying to work out what applies to you.

Thriving Kids changes NDIS access for a specific group, and that does not start until 1 January 2028. What is happening before then are changes to how existing plans are assessed and funded. One of those has a firm date: from 1 October 2026, participant budgets for social and community participation and for capacity building daily activities begin resetting as plans are reassessed or renewed. That affects existing participants of all ages and has nothing to do with the children’s program.

If your plan changed in 2026, Thriving Kids is not the reason.

Is Level 2 autism safe?

Honestly, nobody outside government can tell you yet, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.

The program is for children with “low to moderate support needs”. No published threshold defines that, and the functional needs assessment tool is still being designed. Public commentary from families and peak bodies has argued the boundary may reach beyond Level 1 into Level 2, and that concern is why the assessment tool is being watched closely.

What can be said with confidence: Level 2 and Level 3 autism are List A conditions for NDIS access today, no access changes take effect before 1 January 2028, and children already in the scheme before that date are to be reassessed against the criteria in place on 31 December 2027.

Key dates

DateWhat happens
1 October 2026Children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs start accessing Thriving Kids
October 2026 to January 2028Progressive rollout, with services commissioned area by area
1 November 2026Medicare 3-year-old health assessment becomes available to all Medicare-eligible 3-year-olds
January 2027Allied health (targeted supports) begins in NSW
1 January 2028Thriving Kids fully rolled out

Because the rollout is progressive, what exists in your suburb in late 2026 may differ from what exists in another state. Availability follows commissioning, not the calendar alone.

These dates have moved before. At the original announcement in August 2025 the program was to start on 1 July 2026, with NDIS access changing from mid-2027. Both slipped when National Cabinet finalised the joint funding deal on 30 January 2026. Disability representative organisations have argued the timelines should be readiness-based rather than date-based, so it is reasonable to treat the schedule as firm intent rather than a guarantee.

The Medicare 3-year-old check

One piece of this reform arrives sooner and is worth knowing about. From 1 November 2026 a Medicare-funded health assessment becomes available for all Medicare-eligible three-year-olds, through a GP or prescribed medical practitioner. It is intended to pick up developmental concerns earlier, and it counts as an acceptable health check for Healthy Start for School purposes under Family Tax Benefit Part A. Unlike the NDIS access changes, it does not depend on legislation passing.

How families will access it, and why that matters

Thriving Kids is a commissioned program. Governments fund organisations, largely not-for-profits and government agencies, to deliver defined supports in a local area, and families are connected to those services. In New South Wales, for example, procurement for new services began in May 2026 through the Department of Communities and Justice, for services starting from October 2026.

As at August 2026, nothing is operating yet. There is no Thriving Kids service to join, no provider list, no portal and no phone line. The department’s state and territory page, updated 13 August 2026, still says only that information about supports in your state and how to access them “will be available soon”. Seven of the eight states and territories have published bilateral agreements under the National Agreement on Foundational Supports; Queensland’s is not on the public register at the time of writing, and no reason for that has been published.

What has been named is the shape of it. The Commonwealth is building the national information layer: a digital hub, national phone supports, and an autism helpline, alongside the Medicare check below. The states run the actual intake, deciding who gets targeted supports through what the agreement calls nationally consistent functional needs identification and triage. Expect no single front door, and that is deliberate: the agreement commits to “referral from multiple pathways” so that GPs, child health nurses, educators and teachers can all point families in. New South Wales is so far the only state to name its mechanism, a central intake process run by the Department of Communities and Justice.

The practical implication is worth being clear about, because it is easy to misread. Thriving Kids does not give families a budget to spend with a provider of their choosing the way an NDIS plan does. You are connected to a commissioned service rather than shopping for one. If choosing and engaging your own allied health professional matters to you, the pathways for that remain the NDIS Early Childhood Approach for eligible children, a Medicare Chronic Condition Management Plan, or paying privately.

What you can do now

The rollout is still ahead, but nothing stops you acting on a developmental concern today. Early support tends to work better the earlier it starts, and anything you put in place now carries on regardless of how Thriving Kids arrives in your area.

  1. Talk to your GP or child health nurse. Describe what you are noticing in everyday terms: how your child communicates, plays, eats, sleeps and manages transitions. This conversation drives referrals.
  2. Ask about a Medicare plan. A Chronic Condition Management Plan can subsidise a number of allied health sessions per year.
  3. Check NDIS Early Childhood Approach eligibility if your child’s needs may be more than low to moderate. See our NDIS early childhood approach guide.
  4. Talk to your child’s educator. Early learning services and schools are central to how Thriving Kids is meant to work, so their observations will matter.
  5. Line up the right disciplines. Speech pathology for language and communication, occupational therapy for daily skills and sensory needs, physiotherapy for movement, psychology for behaviour and emotional regulation.

If you want to compare allied health providers working with children in your area now, you can find providers through Carevo and they will contact you. Carevo connects families with providers; it does not deliver therapy itself, and it is not a Thriving Kids commissioned service.

Frequently asked questions

When does Thriving Kids start? Children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs start accessing Thriving Kids from 1 October 2026, and the program is scheduled to be fully rolled out by 1 January 2028. What is available on day one varies by state: in New South Wales, October 2026 brings general supports such as playgroups and parenting programs, while allied health therapies do not begin until January 2027.

Does my child need a diagnosis to access Thriving Kids? No. Access is based on a child’s developmental support needs rather than on a diagnosis, so families do not need a formal autism or developmental delay diagnosis to get help through Thriving Kids.

Will my child lose their NDIS access because of Thriving Kids? 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. Thriving Kids is aimed at children with low to moderate support needs, who over time will be supported through it rather than through an individual NDIS plan.

Should we keep applying for the NDIS or wait for Thriving Kids? Keep going with the NDIS. Thriving Kids does not exist yet: there is no service to join, no provider list and no intake process, and the tool that will decide who counts as low to moderate support needs has not been published. The NDIS is still operating under its current rules, autism at Level 2 or 3 remains a List A condition, and internal review is available if you believe a decision is wrong. Waiting does not improve your position, and a child who turns 9 while waiting leaves the early childhood cohort.

My child’s plan was cut in 2026. Is that because of Thriving Kids? No. Thriving Kids changes NDIS access for a specific group of children and that does not begin until 1 January 2028. Changes to existing plans before then are separate. One has a firm date: from 1 October 2026, participant budgets for social and community participation and for capacity building daily activities begin resetting as plans are reassessed or renewed, which affects existing participants of all ages.

Is Level 2 autism affected by Thriving Kids? There is no published answer yet. The program is for children with low to moderate support needs, but no threshold has been published and the functional needs assessment tool is still being designed. What is certain is that Level 2 and Level 3 autism are List A conditions for NDIS access today, no access changes take effect before 1 January 2028, and children in the scheme before that date are to be reassessed against the criteria in place on 31 December 2027.

Does Thriving Kids cover children with ADHD? ADHD is not named in the eligibility description, which refers to children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs. A child with ADHD alongside a developmental delay or autism could fall within it, but ADHD on its own is not listed. See our guide on NDIS funding for ADHD.

Can I choose my own Thriving Kids provider? Not in the way you choose a provider with an NDIS plan. Thriving Kids is a commissioned program: governments fund organisations to deliver defined supports in each community and connect families to them, rather than giving families a budget to spend. Families who want to choose and engage a provider directly can still do so through the NDIS Early Childhood Approach, a Medicare plan, or privately.

What can families do before October 2026? You do not need to wait for the rollout to start getting help. Speak with your GP, child health nurse or your child’s educator about your concerns, ask about a Medicare Chronic Condition Management Plan, and look into the NDIS Early Childhood Approach if your child may be eligible. Allied health support engaged now through those pathways continues regardless of how Thriving Kids rolls out in your area.

Sources

This guide is based on published Australian Government material, current as at 16 August 2026:

Program details are still being finalised in places, and commissioning differs between states and territories. For decisions about your child’s support, check the current position with your GP, your state or territory service, or My Aged Care’s disability equivalents, and confirm anything time-sensitive against the departmental pages above.