Thriving Kids vs NDIS: what's changing for families
An honest read on the reform, who it touches, and what families can do this week
If you're a parent of a young child on the NDIS, or waiting to get on it, the past year has been a lot. Reform announcements. Plan cuts in the news. A new program called Thriving Kids that nobody could quite explain. Here is a plain-English read on what we know, what we don't, and where it leaves you.
If you're worried, you're not alone. Most parents we have spoken to are. That feeling is a reasonable response to a system mid-change.
The Australian Government has been reshaping how children with developmental delay and autism are supported. Two systems sit at the centre of it. The NDIS, which most families already know. And Thriving Kids, a new foundational-supports program for younger children with low-to-moderate support needs, run through the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
The reform asks a real question. How do you fund support for children whose needs are broad and developmental, without treating every family the same? The answer the government has reached is to split the path in two.
What is actually changing
Three things shifted under the bonnet, and they shape everything that follows.
Function over diagnosis. Eligibility and plan size are moving away from the label on a report and toward the day-to-day impact on a child's life. A diagnosis still matters. But the question reviewers are asking has shifted from "what is the condition?" to "what can this child do, and where do they need support to participate?"
Two tiers of support. Children with significant and permanent disability are expected to remain eligible for the NDIS. Children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism and low-to-moderate support needs are the cohort Thriving Kids is being designed for. The line between the two is one of the parts the government is still working out.
Evidence is the new currency. Plans are being assessed on continuous evidence of function. Not a single report. Not a diagnosis written years ago. The picture of a child across home, school and the playground. The other 167 hours of the week outside the therapy room.
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Thriving Kids.
How indi helps: indi was built to capture exactly this kind of evidence. The wins, the meltdowns, the question they asked that surprised you, the first time they tried something new. Parents do this naturally. indi keeps it in one place, so when the picture of function is what counts, you have it.
Who is likely to stay on NDIS, who is likely to move to Thriving Kids
We are not the government, and nothing here is a guarantee of eligibility. But these are the patterns emerging from the published material and from clinicians on the ground.
Likely to remain on NDIS
- Children with significant and permanent disability
- Children whose support needs are high across multiple areas of daily life
- Older children already on plans with established functional impact
Likely cohort for Thriving Kids
- Children aged 8 and under with developmental delay or autism
- Low-to-moderate support needs
- Families who would previously have entered NDIS through the early-childhood pathway
The honest part: the boundary between "low-to-moderate" and "high" is one of the things still being defined. If your child is somewhere in the middle of that range, no one can tell you with certainty today which side of the line they will land on.
How indi helps: wherever your child lands, the evidence you need is the same shape. A continuous picture of their function across home, school and therapy. indi holds your reports, observations and care-team notes in one place, so you are ready for either pathway without having to start from scratch.
What we still don't know
Reforms this big rarely land the way they were drawn up. Families have been collateral damage in failed transitions before. We have all seen it.
Here are the questions parents are asking that nobody can fully answer yet.
- What therapies will Thriving Kids actually fund, and at what intensity?
- Will families be able to choose their providers, or are they assigned?
- What waiting times look like in regions where allied health is already stretched.
- How a child already on NDIS will be reassessed, and on what timeline.
- What the appeal pathway looks like if a family disagrees with where they have been placed.
That uncertainty is hard to hold when you are running a household, a plan, a kid. It is reasonable to feel destabilised by it.
How indi helps: when the rules change, the families with their evidence already organised have the lightest reassessment. indi keeps your reports, session notes and observations in a timeline you can hand to anyone: a new planner, a new clinician, a tribunal.
What you can do this week
You can't move the reform timeline. You can move what is in your hands.
- Gather what you already have. The last paediatrician report. The most recent OT, speech and psych reports. Your current NDIS plan. Anything from school that describes how your child participates.
- Start a running record of function. Not every day. Just the moments that surprise you. The wins, the meltdowns, the new word, the first time they tried something they used to refuse. This is the evidence that now carries weight.
- Talk to your child's clinicians. They are reading the same announcements you are. Ask what they are seeing in their caseload, and what they recommend documenting between sessions.
- Hold on to your community. Other parents are working through this in real time. The information moves faster sideways than top-down.
How indi helps: the four steps above are the four things indi was built to make light work of. Upload your reports. Capture observations in voice or a quick note. Share with your care team in one tap. Walk into your next plan meeting calmer, readier, with everything in one place.