Belongside Families (formerly known as Kindred)

What Belongside Families (formerly known as Kindred) does

Belongside Families is an Australian independent, family-led not-for-profit organization (formerly known as Kindred) that provides free peer support, capacity-building, and system-navigation programs for parents and carers raising children with disability, developmental delay, autism, rare and genetic conditions, or complex medical needs. Its core offerings comprise eight program lines: Virtual MyTime (online peer groups), Belongside Community (private Facebook group), Belongside One-on-One (personalized support calls), Belongside Workshops, Belongside Webinars, In-Person Catch Ups (Western Sydney, Hills District, Central Coast), and two evidence-based programs delivered with universities — Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (with Monash University) and ENVISAGE (with Australian Catholic University). The organization reports peer-reviewed outcome data, including 95% of mothers reporting increased health-promoting activities and 98% reporting wellbeing improvements after the HMHF program, and serves over 7,000 families annually. The technology stack is intentionally minimal: standard Zoom-based virtual delivery, Facebook Community groups, YouTube for on-demand webinar content, and Humanitix for event registration — there is no proprietary platform or AI/ML component. The business model is government-funded and free-at-point-of-use: all programs are delivered at no cost to families, with the Department of Social Services as the primary funder, coordinated nationally for MyTime by the Parenting Research Centre. Go-to-market is community-led via self-referral and professional referral pathways from allied health, education, and disability sector practitioners, with the organization holding founding or co-chair roles in three national alliances (CaFDA, CaFSA NSW, ACaFSA) that anchor its policy influence.

Name

Belongside Families (formerly known as Kindred)

Legal name

Belongside Families

Website

https://belongsidefamilies.org.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Belongside Families is an Australian family-led not-for-profit (formerly Kindred) providing free peer support, workshops, and evidence-based programs for families raising children with disability, autism, rare/genetic conditions, or medical needs, serving 7,000+ families annually across NSW and virtually nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Disability Peer Support Services

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Child and Youth Services (62411), Individual and Family Services (6241), Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (624120)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Parenting Support Services (BPAGAEAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Autism (ASD) Support Childcare (HSAAAIAA), Down Syndrome & Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Childcare (HSAAAIAC), Family Coaching, Parent-Mediated & Home Visiting EI Services (EDACAFAJ), Autism Parent/Caregiver Education & Training (School-Linked) (EDAKAKAJ)

Keywords

• Peer support services
• Disability family support
• Parent education programs
• Community support groups
• Not-for-profit services

Headquarters

HQ city

NSW

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Funded by Australian Government Department of Social Services and other government sources. Programs are free for families. MyTime is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services, coordinated nationally by the Parenting Research Centre. ENVISAGE Families is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Belongside Families provides free peer support programs for families raising children with disability, developmental delay, autism, rare and genetic conditions, and complex medical needs. Offerings include online parent peer groups (Virtual MyTime), a private Facebook community, one-on-one support calls, workshops, webinars, in-person catch-ups, and curated resources. Two evidence-based programs are delivered with university partners: Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (Monash University) and Envisage (Australian Catholic University). All programs are free and require no diagnosis or referral.

Product overview

Belongside Families is a family-led not-for-profit organization that offers a comprehensive suite of free peer support programs and resources for families raising children with disability, developmental delay, Autism, rare and genetic conditions, and medical needs. The core offerings include Virtual MyTime (online parent peer groups), Belongside Community (private Facebook group), Belongside One-on-One (personalized support calls), Belongside Workshops, Belongside Webinars, and In-Person Catch Ups. These are complemented by two evidence-based programs developed with universities: Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (in partnership with Monash University) and Envisage (in partnership with Australian Catholic University). The organization also provides specialized support streams for Autistic families, Rare & Genetic families, and Medical families, along with extensive practical resources covering Early Days, School, Therapy, Medical, NDIS, and Family Wellbeing topics. All programs are delivered by trained parent peers with lived experience and are free to access without diagnosis or referral requirements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% of mothers reported an increase in health-promoting activities after completing Healthy Mothers Healthy Families program
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Child and Family Disability Alliance (CaFDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member of CaFDA, a national partnership with family-led organizations ACD and Kiind. Belongside Families delivers MyTime on behalf of CaFDA and Playgroup NSW.
• Child and Family Supports Alliance (CaFSA) NSWcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-chair and founding member of CaFSA NSW, collaborating on peer-based support models and systemic advocacy for families.
• Australian Child and Family Supports Alliance (ACaFSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-chair and founding member of ACaFSA, working on national policy and system reform for child and family disability supports.
• Monash UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver evidence-based parenting programs including Healthy Mothers Healthy Families, developed by Professor Helen Bourke-Taylor. Monash logo appears on HMHF materials.
• Australian Catholic University (ACU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProud partner to deliver ENVISAGE program to families. ENVISAGE was developed by ACU in partnership with families.
• Parenting Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMyTime is coordinated nationally by the Parenting Research Centre. Belongside Families delivers MyTime programs.
• Genetic Alliance AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver four-part Genetic Webinar Series helping families make sense of genetic testing and the emotional/practical realities of raising a child with rare or genetic conditions.
• Siblings AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver five-part Supporting Siblings webinar series shining light on siblings when a child has disability, developmental delay, medical needs, or autism.
• Early Childhood Intervention Best Practice Network (ECIBPN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver webinar series on supporting children in school and early learning settings, featuring parents, educators, and therapists.
• Playgroup NSWminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBelongside Families delivers MyTime on behalf of Playgroup NSW as part of the Child and Family Disability Alliance.
• Australian Communication and Family Support (ACD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in national CaFDA alliance - family-led organization collaboration.
• Kiind (formerly Kindred)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in national CaFDA alliance - family-led organization collaboration.
• Understanding ZoeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as friends and partners on website.
• PlumtreeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as friends and partners on website.
• ReFraming AutismminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as friends and partners on website.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Genetic Alliance Australia: Peak body supporting individuals and families affected by genetic conditions. Direct peer and active partner of Belongside Families through the Genetic Webinar Series; both serve rare/genetic families with peer support and information resources.
• Plumtree Children's Services: NSW-based nonprofit providing early childhood intervention and family support for children with disability and developmental delay. Direct peer given overlapping NSW geography, early-intervention focus (similar to ENVISAGE), and shared family-support orientation; listed as a partner on Belongside's website.
• Siblings Australia: National organization supporting siblings of people with disability. Direct peer and partner of Belongside Families through the Supporting Siblings webinar series; overlapping audience (disability families) and similar peer-support delivery model.
• Parentline NSW: NSW-based free telephone and online counselling and support service for parents. Direct peer in the parent-support, free-to-access, virtual-and-phone delivery space, addressing overlapping parental mental health and family wellbeing pain points.
• Australian Communication and Family Support (ACD): National family-led nonprofit supporting families of children with communication disability. Direct peer and alliance co-member through CaFDA; very similar family-led, lived-experience model serving disability parent carers across Australia.
• Playgroup NSW: NSW peak body for playgroups, including supported playgroups for children with disability and developmental delay. Direct peer because Belongside delivers MyTime on behalf of Playgroup NSW within the CaFDA alliance, sharing the early-childhood, family-peer-support remit.
• Kiind (formerly Kindred WA): Western Australian family-led nonprofit supporting parents of children with disability. Direct peer because it operates the same lived-experience, peer-support model for disability families and is a co-founding member of the same CaFDA national alliance as Belongside Families.
• ReFraming Autism: Australian autistic-led organization providing support, education and advocacy for Autistic people and their families. Direct peer because Belongside runs its own "Support for Autistic Families" program with neuro-affirming, autistic-facilitated peer groups, overlapping significantly in mission and audience.

Broad incumbents

• Carers Australia: National peak body representing Australia's unpaid family carers, including parents of children with disability. Broad incumbent that operates at systemic/advocacy level across all carer groups, overlapping with Belongside's family and advocacy work but at much larger scale.
• Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA): National peak body for the early childhood intervention sector. Broad incumbent operating in the same early-intervention and disability family-support space as ENVISAGE; offers training, advocacy, and Best Practice Networks that overlap with Belongside's professional audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@belongsidefamilies
• Facebookfacebook.com/belongsidefamilies
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/belongsidefamilies
• Instagraminstagram.com/belongsidefamilies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Belongside Families (formerly known as Kindred)