Children's System of Care
Focus on wellness
Wisconsin’s system of care is a way of helping children, youth, and their families receive the right help, at the right time, in the right amount by connecting and coordinating the work of:
- Families and youth advocates
- Tribal nations, counties, and collaborating committees
- Service providers
- Health plans (physical, mental health, education)
- Child-serving agencies
- Officials who influence or make acts, laws, or rules
All the participants focus on services that are community-based and culturally responsive while prioritizing and intentionally eliciting family and youth voice and choice with increasing youth/young adult self-determination based on age and development.
Library of information
State, tribal, and county agencies are working together to ensure support and services are available to all children and families in Wisconsin. Wraparound is an essential piece of the planning process that brings people together from different parts of the child’s life. The library includes resources that can be used by counties and tribes to enhance their system of care values, infrastructure, and services and supports. The vision is a system of care in which children and families are valued, understood, and supported in their communities.
Families and other community members
Services and supports for children facing a behavioral health challenge are available in all Wisconsin counties and tribes.
Tribal nation and county behavioral health agencies
The behavioral health community must work together to ensure the success of Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care.
Wisconsin resources
- Children's System of Care: Foundations of Wisconsin Wraparound Video Series
- Children’s System of Care: Self-Assessment Tool, P-02093B (EXCEL)
- Children's System of Care: Self-Assessment Tool Instructions, P-02093C (PDF)
- Collaborative Systems of Care Resource Website
Other resources
- The Evolution of the System of Care Approach (2021) (PDF)
- National Wraparound Initiative
- Toolkit for Expanding the System of Care Approach (PDF)
Browse the topics below for more resources designed to help counties and tribes transform their local systems to meet the goals of Wisconsin's Children's System of Care.
Family voice and choice
- The Wraparound Process User's Guide: A Handbook for Families (PDF)
- Expanding Youth Voice in System of Care: Recommendations for Project Providers (PDF)
- Youth-Led Participatory Action Research
- Wisconsin Providers and Teens Advocating for Health
Cultural and linguistic responsiveness
- National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards
- Family Acceptance Project Website
Community-based
- The Wraparound Process: Individualized, community-based care for children and adolescents with intensive needs
- Keys to prevention: Keeping more kids at home
Natural supports
Natural Supports: A Scan of Current Use and Future Opportunities (PDF)
Team-based
- Practice and Process in Wraparound Teamwork
- Deciding Together Guide: What It Is and What It Isn't (PDF)
Collaboration
Individualized and developmentally informed
- Individualized services and supports through the wraparound process: philosophy and procedures
- YES! Youth Empowered Solutions
Strengths-based
Assessing Community Strengths & Addressing Needs (PDF)
Unconditional
Unconditional Care: A Study of Professional Practice with High-Risk Adolescents (PDF)
Outcome-based
- What Kids Need to Succeed
- Ten Principles of the Wraparound Process (PDF)
- Things 2 Consider When Measuring Success (PDF)
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Effectiveness of Wraparound Care Coordination for Children and Adolescents
Outcomes
- Collaborative Systems of Care Resource Website - Child and Adolescent Strengths and Needs
- Assessing State-Level Progress and Completeness of Wraparound Implementation Using a Standardized Measure (PDF)
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Effectiveness of Wraparound Care Coordination for Children and Adolescents
- Things 2 Consider When Measuring Success (PDF)
- Program Participation System
- Is It Wraparound Yet? Setting Quality Standards for Implementation of the Wraparound Process
Local leadership
Supporting Wraparound Implementation: Overview (PDF)
Internal partnerships
State of the Field: Wraparound Services (PDF)
Fiscal policies and sustainability
Public health approach
Single point of access
Screening and assessment at intake
Wisconsin County Human Service Association: CCS Toolkit
Family-driven, youth-guided, and strengths-based treatment plan and services
- Wraparound Implementation and Practice Quality Standards (PDF)
- The Role of Youth-Run Organizations in Improving Services and Systems for Youth and Young Adults: A Commentary on the State of the Science (PDF)
- Wraparound Milwaukee Plan of Care Coaching Tool (WORD)
Health-mental health integrated
- Integrating mental health into primary healthcare
- Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program (CPCP) (PDF)
Education and skill building offered
The Foundations of Wisconsin Wraparound
Evidence-based practices used
- Motivational interviewing
- Partnering for Success-A prototype for integrating evidence-based practices between referring professionals and mental health professionals (PDF)
- Consumer-Operated Services: Evaluating Your Program (PDF)
Trauma-informed systems
Services meet mental health and substance use needs
Collaborative learning environment, coaching, skill building, and clinical supervision
- Care Coordinator and Supervisor Competencies, P-03084 (PDF)
- Intensive Care Coordination Using High-Quality Wraparound: Care Coordinator to Child and Family Ratios Quick Reference Guide (PDF)
- Wraparound Coaching Manual (PDF)
Consumer, community, and staff champions identified, educated, and encouraged
Intensive Care Coordination Using High-Quality Wraparound: Supervisor to Care Coordinator Ratios (PDF)
Overall oversight in place
Coordinating committee structure considered
Parent and youth involvement in committees
Family team meeting facilitation
Wraparound Milwaukee: Passport to Wraparound Plan Facilitation (WORD)
Funding available
Comprehensive Community Services
Funding blended across services
Medicaid Programs for Children
Funding gaps addressed
Counties and tribes that need assistance to transform their system of care for children to meet the goals of Wisconsin’s System of Care should contact their Coordinated Services Teams Initiatives coordinator and/or Comprehensive Community Services coordinator in the Division of Care and Treatment Services.
Our vision
Children and families are valued, understood, and supported in their communities.
Our principles
- Family voice and choice
- Cultural and linguistic responsiveness
- Community-based
- Natural supports
- Team-based
- Collaboration
- Individualized and developmentally informed
- Strengths-based
- Unconditional
- Outcome-based
Our mission
The Wisconsin Children’s System of Care Initiative will infuse our principles into the support for children and families by fostering a process that embraces and supports the collective experiences, knowledge, and resources of all partnerships.
- Children and families will have access to and choice from an array of supports and services that are responsive to their strengths and needs.
- Counties, tribes, and their partners will develop, transform, and sustain their community’s system of care by being responsive to needs, eliminating barriers to access, and empowering community partnerships.
- Coordinating committees will provide leadership and guidance in the development, transformation, and sustainability of their community’s system of care.
- The Department of Health Services will provide leadership, support, training, and technical assistance to state partners, counties, tribes, coordinating committees, and their providers.
- The Children Come First Advisory Committee will provide guidance and recommendations for statewide system improvements and leverage their collective resources to impact policy.
Resource: Children's System of Care Guiding Document, P-02093 (PDF