WHAT DOES WRAPAROUND MEAN TO A CHILD?

For a child with involved therapeutic needs - needs that traditionally required out-of-home residential treatment - the child can remain in the home and receive therapy. The Family and Local Department of Social Services can develop a "service plan" to meet the child's needs without sending the child away. With this plan the entire family can benefit from professionals coming into the home and offering services, such as behavior modification or one-on-one therapy, and the child can be served in the least restrictive environment.

Wraparound service models mirror theories already established in serving children with other disabilities (Special Education for example) by allowing the child to remain in the least restrictive environment.

Advocates of wraparound services argue that staying home and bringing the professional services into the home best serve a child. This replaces the model of removing the child, placing them in a temporary residential treatment environment, providing therapeutic services, and returning the child to an unchanged home environment.

THE PROCESS

A family and agency work together to:

1. Identify the child's needs
2. Design a "service plan" to address those needs. This would include the services to be provided and the professional needed to address the needs
3. Monitor the progress of the plan and adjust as necessary for the benefit of the child
4. The county has the flexibility in funding to use monies above the standard foster care/AAP rates to provide the services in the home
5. The family and child have the benefit of working together for the success of the child, establishing patterns and training for any future needs.

"Wraparound Services" are individual service plans created and implemented on a case-by-case basis to avoid placing a child in out-of-home care. These services are available if:

1. The county has opted to participate AND
2. The child is currently, or would be placed in a group home at a RCL2 (Rate Classification List) of 10 or higher AND
3. There is a home able and willing to participate as a family to receive the family-centered, strength-based service program.

WHY WRAPAROUND?

In 1998, the legislature (S.B. 933, Chapter 311) provided for the development of alternative services to group home placement for juveniles. The development of wraparound services is in response to a need for change in child welfare programs that allow a child to receive services in the least restrictive environment. This represents a fundamental shift of services addressing individual needs of a child and their family and partnering with local based support agencies.

HOW IS THE FUNDING DIFFERENT?

Counties are offered the opportunity to partner with private non-profit agencies to fulfill specific needs of children who are or were dependents of the court. State foster care funding may be used in a flexible manner and combined with county funding to provide the unique services necessary.

Counties must submit a plan to the Director of Social Services to receive a waiver allowing them to spend state monies in this way.

Federal funding requires out-of-home placement and is therefore not available for this model of alternative services.

WHERE IS WRAPAROUND AVAILABLE?

For children eligible for or receiving AAP, the county responsible for payment must have an approved plan for funding waiver. A parent may be required to seek out services available in the county of residence if resources have not been developed in the "host" county.

The following counties are participating as of Feb. 2002:

• Alameda
• Butte
• Humboldt
• Los Angeles
• Mendocino
• Orange
• Placer
• Sacramento
• San Diego
• San Joaquin
• San Luis Obispo
• San Mateo
• Santa Clara
• Siskiyou
• Theme

Future Participating Counties are:

• El Dorado
• Napa
• Riverside
• Lassen
• Santa Barbara
• Shasta
• San Bernardino
• Solano
• San Francisco
• Del Norte
• Monterey
• Plumas

For further information contact: Karen Neilson (916) 323-9776 Or Sierra Adoption Services 800-227-8044