WA Thriving Kids Family and Children Support Program

Key Requirements

• Build family capability: Initiatives must strengthen the practical knowledge, skills, confidence and connections of families, carers and kin so they can support children’s development, participation and wellbeing in everyday settings.
• Deliver early and preventive support: Activities must provide timely, community-based support before family needs intensify. Projects must focus on capacity building rather than diagnostic, therapeutic or medical interventions.
• Support children aged eight and under: Projects must support children aged zero to eight with developmental concern, developmental delay and/or autism with low to moderate support needs, together with their families, carers and kin.
• Align with eligible service types: Proposals must align with one or more of the five service types covering family workshops, peer support, younger children’s groups, older children’s groups and short-term individual family capacity building.
• Use a coherent service model: Applications must present a clear and achievable service model with alignment between activities, locations, target cohorts, resources and intended outcomes.
• Apply evidence-informed practice: Applicants should demonstrate how their service model reflects early childhood intervention best practice, including family-centred, strengths-based and culturally responsive approaches.
• Provide accessible and culturally safe services: Activities must be inclusive, child safe and culturally safe. Applicants must show how services will be accessible to diverse and priority populations.
• Complement existing services: Funded initiatives must respond to unmet needs, fill service gaps or strengthen existing referral and support pathways without duplicating available services.
• Prioritise community-based delivery: In-person delivery is expected to be prioritised. Online or hybrid delivery may be used where appropriately justified.
• Demonstrate delivery capability: Applicants must show adequate governance, organisational capability, workforce capacity and relevant experience to deliver and manage the proposed initiative.
• Support priority cohorts: Projects may receive priority where they support Aboriginal children and families, culturally and linguistically diverse families, children in contact with the child protection system or families experiencing additional complexity.
• Demonstrate value for money: Applications must include a clear, realistic and justified budget based on verified project costs.
• Address partnerships and cultural safety: Applicants must explain how projects will be designed and delivered with communities, including partnerships with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations where appropriate.
• Provide suitable governance arrangements: Applications involving consortia, partnerships or subcontractors must identify the parties involved and clearly explain their roles and governance arrangements.
• Meet reporting obligations: Successful applicants will be required to provide regular progress reports, a final project report and a financial acquittal.