Families Supporting Families

24/12/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our members, supporters and families! Thank you for being part of the Families Supporting Families community in 2025. We wish you a peaceful and Happy Christmas filled with love, and a wonderful New Year!

We know that this season can be difficult or stressful for many people. You are not alone. If you need some support, you can contact:
Lifeline - 13 11 14
Beyond Blue - 1300 224 636
Respect National Helpline - 1800 737 732
NSW Mental Health Line - 1800 011 511
Kids Helpline - 1800 551 800
Mensline Australia - 1300 789 978

Image description: A pale grey background with a cartoon-style image of a reindeer holding a gift. Christmas lights are wrapped around the reindeer's antlers and there are also some lights in the top left-hand corner. A Christmas tree branch is in the top right-hand corner. The heading reads "Families Supporting Families wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", followed by "Thank you for being part of the FSF community in 2025. We wish you a peaceful and Happy Christmas filled with joy, and a wonderful New Year!" in smaller font.

20/12/2025

Thanks to Origin, Firstchance are offering FREE Speech & Language Assessments during the school holidays for children aged 0–7 where there is concern about their development but they do not have an NDIS plan.

Limited places available.
Book now at www.firstchance.org.au

FREE Speech & Language Assessments Available

Thanks to Origin, we’re offering FREE assessments for children aged 0–7 during where there is concern about their development but do not have an NDIS plan, these school holidays.

Each assessment includes a comprehensive report valued at over $900 at no cost to families in the Lake Macquarie LGA who otherwise couldn't afford it.

📍 Location: Firstchance, 122 Woodstock Street, Mayfield
📅 When: December & January (limited spots)
✅ Book now: www.firstchance.org.au

Give your child the best start in communication development, secure your spot today!

19/12/2025

🛠️ Building better lives: An introduction to Social Role Valorisation
👤 A two-hour workshop with Darcy Elks
🗓️ Wednesday 28 January 2026
⏰ From 11:00 am until 1:00 pm AEDT

This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn how an understanding of Social Role Valorisation (SRV) can help expand opportunities and improve life outcomes for your family member with disability.

We’re so excited that the wonderful Darcy Elks will share her knowledge in an engaging two-hour introductory workshop.

We hope you’ll join us!
https://imaginemore.org.au/events/building-better-lives/

P.S. If you are interested in learning even more about Social Role Valorisation, we're hosting a two-day workshop, Towards a better life, in March 2026. Read more on our website: https://imaginemore.org.au/events/tabl-2026/

16/12/2025

Bring the family to Charlestown Square – Level 2 Foodcourt this Thursday from 5.30pm – 7.30pm. Enjoy live music, get a holiday haircut, and support local charities via Giving Machine Newcastle!

15/12/2025

07/12/2025

🚨 The NDIA is planning a new Support Needs Assessment for all NDIS participants, and it could start from mid-2026.
But what’s been shared so far raises big concerns.
In this new article on the EAC website, Muriel Cummins outlines the key issues the community is worried about:
👥 There’s been no public co-design
🧪 No transparent testing or trial
🔍 Many critical details still unknown
This isn’t the safe, transparent process our community was promised.

📖 Read the full article: More Questions Than Answers: New NDIS Support Needs Assessments: https://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/more-questions-than-answers/

🗓️ And register now for our Dec 12 forum to share your views: https://events.humanitix.com/eac-community-forum-support-needs-assessments-have-your-say

💬 Don’t forget to complete our psychosocial survey: https://forms.office.com/r/VGpEQfSk4E

[Image description: Graphic with a red background and a rounded white box. The Every Australian Counts logo is in the top right. Text reads: "New Article on the EAC Website More Questions Than Answers: New NDIS Support Needs Assessments By EAC Steering Committee Member Muriel Cummins" A circular photo of Muriel Cummins appears in the bottom right corner.]

06/12/2025

We were delighted to welcome Sharon Claydon MP to our end of year catch-up. There was plenty of chat about a wide variety of topics, including the NDIS, Carer Gateway and school inclusion.

It was also a great opportunity to update Sharon on how we will use the Volunteer Grant we recently received from the Labor Government. This grant will be used to pay for our public liability and volunteer workers insurance so that we can continue to run our events for carers and families of children with disability, autism or developmental delay.

Thank you to Sharon for taking time out of her busy schedule to come along and thank you to Bostin Brew Co for having us.

We are very grateful to Port Waratah Coal Services for their generous support of this event.

Image description: a group of people are seated around a café table. They are smiling and looking at the camera.

*some attendees prefer not to be photographed for privacy reasons.

05/12/2025

Congratulations to Kate, one of our 2025 committee members, on winning this award from Celebrate T21. Well-deserved recognition for your amazing advocacy. 👏👏👏

03/12/2025

So disappointing. Whatever happened to person-centred support?

EXCLUSIVE: Funding and support plans for national disability insurance scheme participants will be generated by a computer program and staff will have no discretion to amend them, under a major overhaul of the NDIS to be rolled out next year, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Under the changes, human involvement in deciding support for NDIS participants will be dramatically reduced.

02/12/2025

Today is International Day of People with Disability. This year’s theme is “Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress.”

In this video, the IDPwD Ambassadors discuss their ideas on how we can build a more inclusive society.

02/12/2025

FREE Jets: PLAY Clinic for kids of all abilities aged 5-12 years old, supported by Greater Bank and featuring players from the A-League Women's squad, will be held at No 2 Sports ground at 4.30pm on December 15th. ⚽️

Register at 👉 https://bit.ly/jetsplaynewcastle

Our last Jets: PLAY Clinic for the year and it's set to be a cracker 🎅

Featuring players from our A-League Women's squad, this FREE clinic fuelled by Greater Bank, is for kids of all abilities aged 5-12 years old & is hitting No 2 Sportsground (Newcastle West) on 15 December.

You'll want to get in quick for this one. Secure your spot here 👉 https://bit.ly/jetsplaynewcastle

30/11/2025

Have your say on this important topic.

Share your experiences to help us advocate for better support for carers.⁠

So much of what parents of children with disability carry is unseen. We want to understand what caring looks like in your family and how you are navigating support.⁠

As part of this process, we are gathering anonymous insights about the Carer Gateway. We want to understand what’s working well and where things are not meeting your needs as a parent of children with disability, developmental delay, Autism, rare or genetic conditions.⁠

We’ve heard from many families that the process can come with challenges. Your response will help us advocate for the support that carers of children with disability need.⁠

This survey is separate from the Carer Gateway survey from the government that was shared a few weeks ago. It will take less than ten minutes of your time and is completely anonymous.⁠

🧡 Take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BFCG2025