Wraparound Blog

Community is Central to the Philosophies of Wraparound and Systems of Care

July 23, 2024 | Eric Bruns

We strive to keep young people, even those with the most intensive and complex needs, in their homes and communities. And communities need to pull together and collaborate on behalf of these families if they are to succeed despite the many obstacles they face.

As Coretta Scott King once said, ““The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”

Those who work on behalf of these families need community and compassion as well. Care coordinators, case workers and family partners can be buoyed by seeing families overcome seemingly impossible barriers and achieve their hopes and dreams.

At other times, of course, barriers borne of poverty, addiction, past trauma and systemic racism can threaten to undo all the progress.

Organizational and system leaders need community action to overcome their own highs and lows. For some, grants are awarded, followed by the struggle for sustainability.

For others, the thrill of a community taking Wraparound to scale is undermined by layers of managed care bureaucracy. Increasingly, cost savings from Wraparound that once were re-invested in community services are now funneled as profits to an unseen few. Red tape and perverse cost-cutting incentives force programs to compromise the principles of flexible, family-driven and individualized care their program worked years to build.

When the youth and family movement was young, and systems of care and Wraparound were radical and exciting new paradigms, such highs and lows were experienced within communities full of risk-takers and innovators. People across all levels of service provision were all “in it together.”

State and national events helped inspire and reinvigorate. But especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had fewer opportunities to come together in person as local, state, and national communities of care. When state and local finances are tight, such events are the first to get cut from budgets. Meanwhile, national events have been postponed, curtailed and ended.

For all the above reasons, it was thrilling for us to see the spirit of the Wraparound community living, breathing and thriving in the sun of Southern California.

June 12-14, four members of the National Wraparound Implementation Center attended California’s Partnerships for Wellbeing Institute, a mile from Disneyland in Anaheim. Organized and hosted by the center of excellence at UC Davis with multiple state child-serving agencies, this year’s Partnerships conference theme was “People, Purpose, Passion: Promoting Equity, Family and Community.” I can personally say it lived up to its billing.

2024 Partnerships for Wellbeing Institute Attendees from NWIC/WERT. Click image to open larger version

Partnerships for Well-Being (PWB) is an annual event that aims to promote new skills, build networks of support by learning with and learning from one another, and elevate relationships with families, informal supports and professional partners. The event did all of the above and more.

For this veteran of the “Wraparound Family Reunions” of the 1990s, PWB felt like a homecoming. Folks from all over the state mingled, networked, presented, learned and were inspired. For a few days at least, my cup, which can feel pretty empty at times, was proverbially filled.

Panel at the 2024 Partnerships for Wellbeing Institute. Click image to open larger version

As is typical, the most inspiring programming was provided by families and youth themselves, who told their story of healing to over 1,000 people.

Among these family members was a parent named Harmony, whose first child, Little Bear, was removed from her home due to the multiple stresses in her life.

But with help from her community’s Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) representatives, peer support, and the unconditional care from her grandmother and other family members, Harmony is now on a path to wellness and caring successfully for her second child – who was in the audience at the Conference.

You can experience some of the magic of the event by watching “Harmony’s Story,” one of two family stories on the website of the UC Davis Center for Excellence in Family Finding and Engagement.

Family watching the film ‘Harmony’s Story.’ Click image to open larger version

The California event reminded us all how much we all need collaboration and community in our work. As one Californian, Cesar Chavez, said, “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”

We at NWI implore you to brainstorm with your colleagues, peers, and supervisors ways you can come together to build and strengthen your community.

For a national event that can do the same, we also invite you and your team to attend the 2025 Training Institutes, hosted by the Innovations Institute, July 6-10 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Whether it is at a national, state, or local level, or even just within your own organization, we know of no better way to remind ourselves that helping meet the needs of others can be done not just for their sakes – but also our own.