From 1 October 2026, the Thriving Kids Initiative will begin rolling out across Australia. This Initiative will see investment from every state and territory to transition children aged 0-8 who have developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs away from the NDIS.

Currently, there are no guidelines from the Federal Government as to how this transition should occur in each state and territory. Rollout plans have already commenced in NSW, VIC, WA, ACT and TAS, with each state and territory having unique but similar approaches.

OTA holds serious concerns about the transfer of children from the NDIS without transparent, nationally consistent safeguards that ensure their continued access to essential therapy services.

We are calling for the rollout of the Thriving Kids Initiative that protects children’s outcomes, support families and explicitly recognises the essential role of occupational therapists across all settings, including private practice.

Our window of influence is now. We need to send as many emails of support as possible to raise this issue with our local and federal MPs before the end of September 2026.

Occupational therapists are central to the successful delivery of early-intervention supports, providing essential care to countless children and families in their homes, communities and early childhood and school settings. We support children’s participation in everyday activities like play, self-care, emotional regulation, attention and school readiness. Access to OT can prevent escalation of need and improve outcomes across the home, education and community settings.

We are deeply concerned that the Thriving Kids model does not explicitly include occupational therapists, and provides no clear role for the majority of our workforce who operate in private practice. This ambiguity risks excluding private practice providers from delivering essential care, resulting in detrimental impacts on children with disability in regional, rural and remote communities, where private providers often deliver the majority of services.

In the absence of consistent guidance on the transition and referral pathways for Thriving Kids, there is a real risk that families will face longer wait times, reduce choice and disrupted continuity of care.

OTA supports the intent of Thriving Kids as early, accessible support for children and families is absolutely essential. However, we hold serious concerns about the transition process and the lack of safeguards to protect children with disability.

Our key concerns include:

• Continuity of care: children risk losing access to their current therapists, disrupting progress and outcomes
• Assessment of support needs: the proposed approach to determining “low to moderate” needs is unclear
• Workforce inclusion: OTs, including those in private practice, must be embedded in the commissioning, referral pathways and service design to ensure Thriving Kids is safe and accessible.

We are calling for a rollout of the program that protects children’s outcomes, supports families and recognises the essential role of occupational therapists across all settings.