The NDIS is changing for young children: what Thriving Kids means for your family

If you have a little one with a developmental delay or autism, or you are somewhere in the long process of working out whether they might, you have probably seen the headlines about the NDIS changing. And if those headlines landed in your stomach with a small cold drop of fear, I understand exactly why.

Two honest caveats before we start. This reform is still being finalised, and some of the biggest changes depend on legislation that was still moving through Parliament through 2026, so detail will keep firming up. And I will point you to the official sources at the end, because when it comes to your own child's funding, you deserve to read it from the source, not just from me.

What is Thriving Kids?

Thriving Kids is a new program for children aged eight and under who have a developmental delay or autism and need what the government calls low to moderate levels of support. It is the first part of a bigger idea called foundational supports, which came out of the independent review of the NDIS.

The thinking behind it is that a lot of young children who currently need an NDIS plan simply to get help would be better served by support that sits outside the scheme, closer to their everyday life. So rather than a child needing a formal diagnosis and an individual NDIS package before anything happens, Thriving Kids is designed to offer support through the places families already are: maternal and child health centres, GPs, playgroups, childcare, kinder and schools, alongside online and phone-based help.

From what has been confirmed so far, it is built in two layers.

The first is universal parenting support, available to any eligible family with no assessment and no diagnosis required. Think online courses and resources, peer support groups, supported playgroups, and programs that build your own confidence and skill in supporting your child. This is meant to be an easy front door, something you can simply walk through.

The second is targeted support, for children who need more than that. This is where the allied health comes in: speech pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology and audiology, delivered one-to-one or in groups, along with some low-cost equipment and more intensive family support for those with complex circumstances. To access this layer, a child will need a light-touch needs assessment. Importantly, that assessment is designed to ask what this child, in this family, actually needs to develop and take part, rather than requiring a diagnostic label first.

That last point matters, and it is genuinely good news. One of the founding principles of Thriving Kids is that support should follow functional need, not a diagnosis. For the many families who have spent months or years, and often a great deal of money, chasing a diagnosis purely to unlock help, that is a meaningful shift.

Why is this happening?

Briefly, and without taking a side, because you can make up your own mind. The NDIS has grown far larger and far faster than anyone projected, and a large share of that growth has been young children. The government's position is that the scheme was never designed to be the only door to support for every developmental difference, and that many young children would do better with earlier, less clinical help woven into their ordinary environments. There is also, plainly, a cost-sustainability motive, which the government has been open about.

Whatever you make of the politics, there is a genuine thread of evidence underneath it. Best-practice early childhood intervention does generally favour supporting children in the real settings where they live, learn and play, rather than only in clinic rooms. That principle is sound, and it is actually the reason why I started Hi Thrive in the first place: we offer therapy in a child's real-world environment because we know it works best.

When is this happening?

Here are the dates as they currently stand.

The national rollout begins from October 2026, but this is the start of a gradual, staged process rather than a switch being flipped, and it will look different depending on where you live. The supports that appear first are the lighter, universal ones: things like supported playgroups, peer support and family programs. The more targeted allied health that many families are actually waiting on, speech pathology and occupational therapy through Thriving Kids, is expected to come progressively over the rollout period, not all at once on day one. The whole program is expected to be fully in place by 1 January 2028.

So if it feels like you have heard very little concrete about any of this, you have not missed a thing. Exactly what will be available, when, and how to access it is still being finalised, and governments have said they will share the specifics closer to services actually starting. Right now there is very little real information available.

Running alongside Thriving Kids is a separate, broader reform of the NDIS itself, with its own timeline, and it is worth knowing it exists because it shapes the answers below. The headline date there is also 1 January 2028, when the way people qualify for the scheme is set to tighten.

Will my child lose their NDIS support?

If your child already has an NDIS plan, the most important thing to know is that Thriving Kids does not cancel it. The change that redirects children with "low to moderate needs" away from the NDIS applies to new applicants from 2028, not to children already in the scheme. For young children already enrolled with a developmental delay or autism, the current plan is that they keep being assessed under the eligibility rules in place before 2028, rather than being pushed into Thriving Kids by the boundary change. That is a genuine, deliberate protection.

Two honest qualifications sit alongside it, though, and you deserve both.

First, "assessed under the existing rules" is not the same as "never reviewed again." Even now, plans are reassessed as children grow, and children who entered through the early-intervention pathway on a developmental-delay basis are commonly reviewed around the age of six. That is a feature of the current system, not something new the reforms have introduced.

Second, there is a broader tightening of NDIS eligibility planned for everyone from 2028, using a new standardised measure of how a disability affects everyday life, with existing participants reassessed gradually over about three years. Much of this depends on legislation that was still passing through Parliament in 2026, so the fine detail may still shift.

If your child has higher or more significant support needs, they remain squarely within the NDIS. Thriving Kids is specifically for "low to moderate needs".

Can I still apply for the NDIS now?

Yes. As the rules stand today, you can still apply for the NDIS, right up until the access changes take effect on 1 January 2028. Until then the current process is open and unchanged. So if you have been wondering whether the window is closing, it has not closed.

However, getting in before 2028 is not a permanent guarantee. As above, the broader reform will gradually reassess existing participants against tighter criteria from 2028. Young children already enrolled with a developmental delay or autism at low to moderate needs are currently set to keep being assessed under the pre-2028 rules, which is a real protection, but being on the scheme has never been a lock that is immune from review.

A diagnosis on its own has never guaranteed access, and still does not. This surprises a lot of parents. The entry point to the NDIS is permanent and significant disability, or, for young children, the early-intervention pathway. Many children come in through early intervention on a developmental-delay basis, and under the existing rules that eligibility is reviewed as they grow, often around age six, when access can be removed unless the child is found to meet the disability or ongoing early-intervention requirements. That is not a new Thriving Kids rule. It is how the scheme already works, and it means a milder presentation is precisely the profile most likely to face a difficult reassessment down the track.

Mild to moderate is the exact group Thriving Kids is built for. This is the honest heart of it. If your child's needs are genuinely at the milder end, they may not meet the NDIS threshold even today, and are less likely to from 2028. That is not a judgement about your child, and it is not a comment on how real or how deserving their needs are. It simply means the NDIS may not be the door that opens, and Thriving Kids is being built specifically to be the one that does.

So should you apply? That is a genuinely individual question, and it turns on your child's functional needs, not on a date on a calendar. It is worth talking through with your paediatrician or an experienced early childhood partner who can look at your specific child.

What should I do now?

A few practical, low-stress things are genuinely worth doing:

• If your child already has a plan, keep your reports and assessments current, keep engaging with your team as normal, and respond promptly to any reassessment letter if one arrives.

• If you are weighing up an application, talk it through with your paediatrician or early childhood partner about your child's actual functional needs before deciding, rather than deciding on the deadline.

• Whatever you decide about funding, start or continue early, everyday support now. It is the thing that moves the needle, and it does not depend on which scheme pays for it.

What this means for how support is delivered

Thriving Kids leans hard toward supporting children in their natural environments and toward building family capacity, coaching and equipping the parents and carers who are with a child every day, rather than relying only on a child being taken to a therapy room once a week. For families used to the older model, that can sound like less. In practice, done well, it is often more, because the learning happens in real life, all week, not just in the session.

This is also, as it happens, how good mobile and home-based therapy already works and it's exactly what we strive to do at Hi Thrive: A team that comes to your home, works within your routines, and treats you as the expert on your own child. So while the funding landscape shifts around you, the kind of help that actually moves the needle for a young child stays the same, and it remains available now.

Whichever way your funding flows over the next couple of years, we can help you make sense of it and keep your child supported through the change. If you are feeling lost in the noise, you are welcome to reach out.

Where to get the official details

Because this is still being finalised, and some of it depends on legislation, please check the current detail from the source before making any decisions about your own child's funding:

• The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (health.gov.au) has the official Thriving Kids information, the NDIS reform timeline, and fact sheets.

• The NDIS (ndis.gov.au) has the current position on access arrangements and reassessments.

• The Victorian government's Thriving Kids website: https://www.vic.gov.au/thriving-kids

You are not behind for finding this confusing. It is very confusing, it is still moving. Whatever changes, your child's need for support is real, it is valid, and there will be a way to meet it.

Sources

Policy details are drawn from official Australian and state government sources, which are the authoritative source for this reform. Figures and timelines were current at the time of writing and are subject to change as the reform is finalised and legislated.

• Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Thriving Kids and Foundational Supports (fact sheet and program pages, 2026).

• Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Securing the NDIS for Future Generations: reform timeline and "About the changes to the NDIS" (2026), including the change to NDIS access for new applicants aged 0 to 8 from 1 January 2028, and the reassessment of existing participants against new criteria over three years.

• National Disability Insurance Scheme (ndis.gov.au). Thriving Kids: access arrangements and timelines (2026).

• Thriving Kids Advisory Group Final Report (co-chaired by Minister Mark Butler and Professor Frank Oberklaid), released 3 February 2026.

• NDIS operational guidance on eligibility reassessment for children (the review of early-intervention and developmental-delay access as children reach age six).