Victorian government lets families down with a costly and parallel new system for Thriving Kids

Victorian children could wait longer for developmental support under the Government’s plan to recruit a separate Thriving Kids workforce, when trusted community health services already operate statewide. 

Today the Victorian Government commenced recruiting for a costly and parallel workforce to roll out Thriving Kids, despite the existing community-based infrastructure and workforce available statewide. 

Community Health First has warned that setting up an expensive and parallel system will take time and delay critical support reaching families, intensify allied health workforce shortages and divert much needed funding into administrative processes and away from direct support for children and families. 

Community Health First says Victoria can move faster, and save costs, by expanding trusted community health services and using schools, kindergartens and maternal and child health services as accessible entry points for families. 

While the Victorian government had earlier indicated that partnership approaches will be considered, commencing recruitment of allied health staff directly within the Department of Education indicates there is a clear decision to ignore existing community providers, and divert limited resources into establishing a duplicate system that will further complicate pathways for families looking for support.

Sunshine mother Amanda Halbert, who also works in early childhood education, first raised concerns about her daughter Jamie’s development more than 12 months ago, when her NDIS application and subsequent internal review were unsuccessful, she paid for a private assessment. Following Jamie receiving a Level 2 autism diagnosis, and the family is pursuing NDIS support again but are stuck not knowing when support will arrive.

“So, we’re kind of in limbo at the moment, not knowing what to do,” Amanda said.

"My husband and I have financially strained ourselves to get my daughter a diagnosis so that we can try and get her support."

"From a parent perspective, it is really stressful and overwhelming not knowing when I can access support for my child who clearly needs it."

While the Victorian government had earlier indicated that partnership approaches will be considered, the commencement of internal recruitment shows there is a clear decision to ignore existing community providers and pour limited resources into establishing a duplicate system that will further complicate pathways for families looking for support.  

IPC Health Chief Executive Officer Jayne Nelson said families don’t want to be passed between different systems.

“Families want one trusted service that can identify concerns early, provide support and stay with their child as their needs change,"

"Building a separate system risks duplicating what already works while children and parents continue to wait." 

For months the broader sector has been calling for a clear, consistent partnership model, where existing early childhood and education settings can help families connect with support, and community-based providers can deliver the clinical care, professional supervision and links to broader health and family services. This would build on the long-standing and broad expertise of existing providers, who already work with thousands of children every month.  

Community Health First Chair Anna Robinson said the focus should come back to how to get the best outcomes for children and families. 

"We know how many children are already waiting to access support. We need to get more help to more children sooner and do it making the best use of taxpayers' money," Ms Robinson said. 

"When parents are worried about their child's development, the last thing they need is another system to navigate.”  

“Why spend millions creating another system when trusted services are already in place and ready to help more children now?” Ms Robinson said. 

The sector has also warned that recruiting hundreds of allied health professionals into a separate government service could pull clinicians away from existing health providers. This risk is particularly serious in rural and regional Victoria, where families already face workforce shortages and barriers to care. 

"In regional Victoria, community health services are often the first point of contact for families seeking developmental support. It makes far more sense to strengthen those services than create a separate system competing for the same limited workforce," said Bendigo Community Health Services Chief Executive Officer Mandy Hutchinson.  

“You cannot recruit hundreds of clinicians into a new program without taking them from somewhere. Every allied health professional diverted into a new service is one less clinician available to help children already waiting for care.” 

At a time when Victoria is facing extraordinary budget pressures and waitlists for assessments and diagnosis are growing rapidly, creating an entirely new expensive system is a cost that our state and our families can't afford.