California Wraparound

Collaboration Is Key as California Re-energizes Wraparound

Wraparound has a long history in California. But because it’s administered at the county level, and because of other historical factors related to policy and funding, authority for state oversight and support for Wraparound in past years has been inconsistent, and some counties have experienced significant model and fidelity drift.

New policies and programs at the state and federal level – particularly the federal Family First Prevention Services Act – have provided the state with additional funding and leverage to refine its Wraparound model and to ensure that it reflects state Wraparound standards, which are aligned with the standards from the National Wraparound Initiative. In the future, this will allow the state to be more effective and active in continuous quality improvement for Wraparound.

These changes in the policy and funding context have energized a collaborative effort among state and local Wraparound champions, who are eager to use their experience and expertise to ensure a consistently high level of Wraparound across the state. To move toward this goal, the state began convening a steering committee – and associated advisory committees – in 2020, with representation from across Wraparound roles and children’s systems, including child welfare, health/behavioral health and probation.

One of the first big projects that the group has taken on is the development of a state-overseen process to certify provider organizations at the local level. After two years of work, the certification requirement is scheduled to launch before the end of the year. And because developing the certification process has engaged the state’s Wraparound community so broadly, local providers and counties support the effort and the goal of statewide quality and consistency.

Another advisory committee has been overseeing the updating and revision of various Wraparound courses and curricula. Like the certification initiative, the work on training and curricula has also engaged representatives from across Wraparound roles and child-serving systems as a means of building relevance, responsiveness, and buy-in. The group continually seeks and uses feedback from existing trainings to identify new training topics and ways that current offerings can be improved.

A further key collaboration is happening within California’s pilot project for continuous quality improvement (CQI) in Wraparound. Counties and providers from around the state are collaborating to determine the feasibility of a plan for statewide use of the Wraparound Fidelity Index (WFI), the Team Observation Measure (TOM) and the Document Assessment and Review Tool (DART). While local interested parties have historically been skeptical of state mandates for CQI, they appear to be supportive of the current fidelity initiative, recognizing the value of ensuring consistency and high quality of Wraparound statewide. Providers participating in the CQI pilot are excited about the project’s potential to dramatically improve outcomes for the children, youth and families in Wraparound.