The mission of the National Wraparound Initiative is to promote understanding about Wraparound, and to provide the field with resources and guidance that facilitate high quality and consistent Wraparound implementation. However, it is important to remember that Wraparound was not developed by any one program, researcher, or community. The Wraparound model has been described as "grassroots"—it has evolved over time, and innovations in Wraparound practice have propagated from many different people, programs, and communities.
For this reason, the NWI strives to be transparent about the source of information on its website, and the level of "peer review" of its publications, many of which are directed at ensuring a common understanding of Wraparound practice. In brief, the National Wraparound Initiative has several different processes for producing and endorsing resources and publications:
1. Produced Through the Full NWI Consensus Process
The most fundamental and oft-accessed resources on the NWI website—such as those that describe basic components of the practice model—are the resources for which we seek the most thorough review by the Wraparound expert community. These documents and publications carry the label "Produced through the full NWI consensus process." This highest level of endorsement is given to documents or resources that have undergone a formal consensus process, in which all NWI members with a high level of expertise are invited to participate. A description of an example of this type of process can be found in foundational documents such as the Ten Principles of the Wraparound Process, the Phases and Activities of Wraparound, and the Application of the Ten Principles of the Wraparound Process to the Role of Family Partners on Wraparound Teams.
2. Peer Reviewed Through the NWI
More commonly, the NWI solicits and publishes articles and resources that are "Peer reviewed through the NWI." This represents most of the documents and resources that are publicly available on the NWI website. These publications have passed through peer review, which means that the content has been approved by several NWI members with high levels of expertise. Most of the articles in the Resource Guide to Wraparound are NWI peer reviewed articles.
3. Created or Submitted by NWI Members
Finally, a number of resources available on the NWI website are directly
"Created and/or submitted by NWI members." The primary example of documents and resources submitted by members and posted without review are those in our publications/ tools archive. This compendium allows NWI members to share resources directly with other members; however, the NWI does not subject them to peer review before allowing them to be posted.