Embracing Wraparound Service Continuums

In recent years, California has taken significant steps towards transforming its support for youth and families within our communities. Central to this transformation is the implementation of readily available service options for families when they are in critical need, eliminating the need to wait until their crisis worsens before they can receive support. To this end, an increasing number of counties and service providers are offering Wraparound services to families in a wider variety of contexts, including:

• County-administered Wraparound for families involved with child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health systems;
• School-based Wraparound in collaboration with school districts;
• Expedited Wraparound to avoid the need to place children in shelters and to facilitate their transitions out of shelters; and
• Wraparound services available to families who are not formally engaged with any public system.

This service web allows for multiple points of access to Wraparound so that a caring and concerned stakeholder (such as school personnel, social workers, probation officers, or behavioral health staff) can make a phone call or join a virtual meeting to refer a family to Wraparound—a family that might be on the precipice of system involvement without needing to be court-involved. By serving a broader population, adapting processes for rapid mobilization of support and committing to cross-system partnerships, we ensure that every family in need has access to the resources and assistance they need to thrive.

The objective is crystal clear: to provide crucial assistance to youth and families in distress at the precise moment it is needed.

Many jurisdictions are adopting an intentional approach to delivering the Wraparound processes and services, situating them within a comprehensive prevention-to-intervention continuum of support that reflects a broader vision of mandated family assistance, bypassing the need for traditional bureaucratic system navigation. In some areas, county entities are taking this initiative further by developing a system map that encompasses a continuum of Wraparound care, including variations of the Wraparound model that address unique gaps in local systems.

The objective is crystal clear: to provide crucial assistance to youth and families in distress at the precise moment it is needed. This proactive, localized and comprehensive approach ensures that every family, regardless of their circumstances, receives the support and resources they need to flourish.

This new approach dovetails with efforts throughout the state to shift from “mandated reporting” (of youth at risk of involvement in the child welfare system) to “mandated supporting” of all families before a report to child welfare or attention from juvenile probation occurs, unmet behavioral health needs worsen, or school engagement, behavior, or achievement significantly decrease. Supporting families in this way brings comprehensive preventative services directly to families early and helps them to connect with their social support networks, develop problem-solving skills, and access their resilience more efficiently.

The potential short- and long-term impacts of these efforts are transformative, promising a shift in how our public systems support children, youth and families. We will keep more children with their families and natural support; and, when separation is necessary, help to ensure that reunification can happen faster and more effectively.

Increasing access to Wraparound allows more families to connect with a range of services tailored to their unique needs when they need it most. This approach will help more families stay together, reduce the number of children placed in congregate care and improve our performance on our shared system improvement outcome measures!

Read additional articles from this issue of the Wraparound Connections Newsletter!