Wraparound Facilitation
Wraparound facilitation is provided by wraparound agencies. There is one wraparound agency in each region of the state. Wraparound facilitation is offered through a process known as "Child and Family Teams" or "CFTs". To help address behavioral health needs, families often require supports and services from many different sources. However, getting all the different sources working together can be a challenge.
Before the child and family team is pulled together, a facilitator—someone who makes sure everything runs smoothly during your Wraparound experience—meets with the child and the family/guardian. Team members will also be identified and asked to share strengths with the facilitator: What’s important, what the child likes to do, and what the child and family would like life to be like now and in the future. Strengths might also include things like faith, inspirations, favorite people, hobbies, special talents, and music. The goal is to help children remain in their communities; receive treatment close to home or in the home, whenever possible.
Who is on the Child and Family Team?
The team includes people that are most important to the family, builds on the family’s strengths, and makes sure that the services provided are focused on what the family needs.
How is the Team formed?
The facilitator helps the child/youth and family to develop a team chosen by the family to work on goals to help them be successful in the community. The planning team usually includes the referral source. The team will include some professionals—for example, a teacher, therapist, and probation officer—and family members, friends, and other people you like and trust. Team members might also include siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, coaches, and people from where the child and family worship.
What does the Team do?
The first time the Child and Family Team meets, everyone is introduced, and all the members are engaged in learning about the strengths and needs of the child and the family. Then, the child, family and team members pick areas of the child's life to work on—family life, behavior, school, legal challenges, and so on. Together, everyone thinks of how these areas of the child and family's life can improve.
Next, the team thinks of exactly what needs to change for an area of the child and family's life to get better. This should be as specific as possible, as the team begins to create the Wraparound plan. The plan should fit the child and family's life by using strengths to meet challenges and needs.
After the first wraparound planning meeting, ongoing team meetings are held to make sure progress is being made towards meeting the child and family's goals. During this time, the child, family and other team members meet regularly, usually once a month.
Together, the child, family and team meet to adjust the plan as progress is made. As skills for handling challenges get stronger, the team will continue to make adjustments. Before long, team members realize you don’t just have a plan; you’re living your plan. With the support of the team, the child and family will have made changes in areas of life that the child and family wanted or needed to improve. At this point, congratulations—the child is ready to graduate from CSoC!
What team members can expect:
- To be listened to with respect and not judged.
- To be encouraged to speak up and ask questions.
- To discuss your goals and create a plan to achieve them with the team.
- To be asked to participate in the services that are offered to achieve goals.
- To work with providers who are respectful of the culture, language and values of families.
- To be connected to services and supports that honor and respect the lifestyle of individual families.