Wraparound / Family Strengths

What is Wraparound?

Coordinated Family Care believes in a model of care that is family oriented and community based. The model of care is called wraparound. Wraparound places an emphasis on the strengths that each family has in order to support the family in their community. Wraparound is used in over 35 places throughout the nation. It has consistently produced improvements in the lives of children and families as well as helped to make their communities more proactive and safe.

Coordinated Family Care is a Care Management Organization (CMO) servicing Middlesex County that designs, implements and manages Individual Service Plans (ISP’s) for children with complex needs. The goal of Coordinated Family Care is to keep children in their homes and in their communities as we believe kids have the best chance of succeeding in life when cared for by loved ones.

What makes Coordinated Family Care different?

Coordinated Family Care (CFC) believes that people are strong in many ways. When a child or family has needs, people around them only see what is not going well. Families who are having difficulties have strengths that can help them through tough times and address their needs. A Child & Family Team works to help families recognize their strengths and how they can use them to resolve the difficulties they face.

Coordinated Family Care is not a treatment program. CFC does not provide therapy. We help families find, create and develop options that will support them while they work to address their needs. We also help families learn how to use and manage services that are available to them in the community.

The Child & Family Team is a crucial part of the process. The team helps families help themselves. Team members lend their support to the child and/or family in many ways.

Coordinated Family Care helps the team by providing the structure for the team meetings and by helping put in place an Individual Service Plan that the team creates with the child and family.

What will it take to make a difference?

The Child & Family Team creates a plan for the child in which every member plays a part. As a group, the team identifies the child's strengths and the family's strengths. They figure out what resources in the community can help the child begin to overcome difficulties and what the family needs in order to create a more balanced life.

The plan can include informal community supports, specialized services, creative endeavors, and recreation--anything that may address the immediate difficulties and begin a movement toward "normalized" functioning.

The team identifies needs to be addressed and commits to helping the family meet those needs. The team also figures out what will be done if a crisis occurs and who will do what to help resolve the crisis. Team members also help the child's primary caregiver eventually assume team leadership and take responsibility for the family's functioning. One of the most important functions of the team is to help the family celebrate and recognize their successes. Even when difficulties seem insurmountable, the team process has proven time and time again that problem solving in this way helps children and families significantly improve their lives.

How does a child & family team work?

A Care Manager is assigned to convene a Child & Family Team to develop an Individual Service Plan or ISP. The Care Manager first meets individually with the child and family to create a "strengths inventory" and find out who should be included on the team. The Care Manager contacts other possible team members, with the family's permission, to invite their participation.

At the same time, a member of the Family Support Organization of Middlesex County contacts the family and offers continual support throughout the entire wraparound process.

Representatives from formal and informal sources of care and support make up the team. Everyone on the team makes a commitment to do whatever it takes to help the family achieve positive outcomes. The team prioritizes needs, develops interventions, supports and services, and obtains commitments from each team member so that it is clear who will be carrying out each action identified in the plan.

As the child and family become more involved in the process, the interventions, services, and supports become more individualized. The Coordinated Family Care Resource Development Department works closely with the Care Manager to respond to the needs of the family with resources that support the Individual Service Plan.

Family Support Organization: What is a Parent Partner?

Family empowerment is an important part of the mission of Coordinated Family Care. Middlesex County has a Family Support Organization (FSO) that is a family run organization which provides direct parent support and assistance to families of children working with Coordinated Family Care. They are available to support families and assist them in ensuring that the plans are child centered, family friendly and a product of the Child Family Team process. The Family Support Organization works closely with Coordinated Family Care as an additional resource for the family. The FSO can be reached at (732) 940-2837.