Foundational Supports for Children

Foundational Supports for children under 9

The NSW Government is working hard to deliver on our commitment to ensure that children across NSW get the best start in life and learning, no matter their postcode or background.

We are working with the Australian Government and other states and territories to design Foundational Supports for children under nine with autism and developmental delay. These supports would help children with low-to-moderate support needs and their families, carers and kin.

Foundational Supports will help children to meet developmental milestones, learn, be social, and support them with their emotional, physical and mental health. Supports are also being designed to give families, carers and kin the right information to understand and support their child’s needs.

Governments are working together on how and when these services could be rolled out after they sign a long-term agreement on Foundational Supports.

Market Insights - Request for Information (RFI) open

The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) is inviting service providers, community organisations, Aboriginal service providers and Aboriginal businesses to share their insights to help shape the delivery of foundational supports for children under nine with developmental delay and/or autism, with low to support needs and their families across NSW.

This Request for Information (RFI) is part of an exploratory process and is issued to gather insights from stakeholders based on their knowledge, experience and expertise.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and respondents may choose to answer all, some, or none of the questions.

Participation in this RFI does not constitute a pre-qualification for any future opportunities, nor does it provide any competitive advantage or disadvantage.

To participate, providers must be registered as a supplier on buy.NSW

The RFI will be open from 12 December 2025 and close at 3pm on 6 February 2026.

Responses must be submitted via the buy.NSW platform.

Your insights will help shape future service delivery and ensure culturally safe and inclusive supports for children and families.

How to register with buy NSW

To learn more or participate, visit www.buy.nsw.gov.au.

Foundational Supports for Children Advisory Group

The NSW Department of Communities and Justice established a consultative, time- limited Foundational Supports for Children Advisory Group that met regularly between July and December 2025 to inform the design of the Foundational Supports in NSW.

The following organisations are members of the Advisory Group:

• People With Disability Australia
• Family Advocacy 
• Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association NSW 
• First Nations Peoples Disability Network 
• AbSec 
• Autism Awareness Australia
• National Disability Services
• Local Community Services Association
• NSW Family Services
• NSW Council of Social Services
• Marathon Health
• Sydney Region Aboriginal Corp
• We Care NSW 
• Plumtree
• Ethnic Community Services Co-operative
• Koorana 
• Orange District Early Education Program
• A Growing Understanding Speech Pathology
• Occupational Therapy Paediatric Services 
• EarlyEd.

Community consultation

The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) has now completed the in-person community and sector consultation on Foundational Supports for children in NSW.

We travelled across NSW to meet with people who are interested in how Foundational Supports can meet the needs of children and families in NSW.

We heard from parents, carers and kin, people with disability, and people working in early childhood education, disability or early intervention services and allied health.

Face-to-face consultations opened in August 2025 and closed in December 2025. We visited Liverpool, Parramatta, Seven Hills, Campbelltown, Regents Park, Wagga Wagga, Bankstown and two sessions at both Chatswood, Randwick, Lithgow, Dubbo, Broken Hill, Redfern, Armidale, Tamworth, Ballina, Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Wollongong, Batemans Bay, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Penrith.

We were also supported by Ethnic Community Services (ECS) and Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) to hold two face-to-face sessions with culturally and linguistically diverse families and three sessions with children and young people.

DCJ expresses our gratitude to everyone who participated, sharing their time, insights and expertise. We value the diversity of input which will inform the design and delivery of Foundational Supports for children in NSW.

We are working with the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) to hear from Aboriginal communities about their views on how Foundational Supports can deliver better outcomes for children and families.

DCJ also hosted six webinars for people who were unable to attend a session in community. Two webinars were focused exclusively on Families, one was for Allied Health professionals, one focused on Rural and Remote issues and another was for Early Childhood Education and Care providers. One session was open to all.

We express our gratitude to Family Advocacy who assisted us with the Families webinar.

As part of our broader engagement, DCJ also launched a Have Your Say survey, which was open to the public between October and December 2025. The survey is now closed, and we are reviewing responses to further inform our approach. You can continue to visit the Have Your Say page here for updates.

Further information

The NSW Department of Communities and Justice, the Cabinet Office, NSW Health, the NSW Department of Education and Aboriginal Affairs NSW are all working together to design effective, community-based supports.

If you have any questions, please email foundationalsupports@dcj.nsw.gov.au

The Australian Government asked the community about foundational supports from September to November 2024. You can read the discussion paper and watch a video of the ‘What we heard’ webinar on the DSS Engage website.

Where to get support

If you are worried about how your child is growing and learning, talk to your child's doctor or the Community Nurse at your local Child and Family Health Centre.  

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) – Early Childhood Approach helps  children under 9 with developmental delay or disabilities. They focus on early intervention and support. To find an NDIS Early Childhood provider, go to the NDIS website.

Additional information:

• DSS Disabilities and carers – information about support for people with disabilities and their families, carers and kin. 
• Disability Advocacy Futures Program – information disability advocacy services.  
• NSW Education Inclusive learning support – information about the Disability Advocacy Futures Program for students.
• DCJ Early Intervention Programs - free services across NSW that support children, young people and families experiencing a range of issues.
• Family Connect and Support - connects families with support services and community resources to help keep children and young people are safe and well.
• Aboriginal Child and Family Centres - culturally-safe services for families with Aboriginal children aged up to 8 years of age.
• Brighter Beginnings – services and resources to help children during the first five years of life.
• Finding early childhood education and care – information to help families, carers and kin choose an early childhood education service.
• NSW Health Disability services and initiatives – information about accessible health care options for people with disabilities.