The Child and Family Team (CFT) Concept
The principle of true Individualization is at the heart of the wraparound process. Each child, youth, and family has an individualized plan of care that they decide work for the family. The plan may include services (such as therapy or day treatment) that other plans have included but when they do include these more typical services, the family team always evaluates and understands why the service is a precise match for the unique needs of the child, youth, and/or family.
The plan is structured around the principle of Strengths Based, where the plan is based on the unique strengths, needs, values, norms, preferences, and culture, and vision of the child, family, and community.
No interventions are allowed in the plan unless they have matching child, family, and community strengths. By building on these strengths, the plan supports who the child is and how the child will positively progress in life. The plan is focused on typical needs in life domain areas that all persons (of like age, sex, culture) have. These life domains are:
| independence | behavioral |
| family | emotional |
| living situation | health |
| financial | legal |
| educational | cultural |
| social | safety |
| recreational | and others |
The child and family team and agency staff who provide services and supports must make a commitment to the principle of Persistence in delivery of services and supports.
When things do not go well, the child and family are not “kicked out”, but rather, the individualized services and supports are changed. Planning, services, and supports cut across traditional agency boundaries through multi-agency involvement and funding.
Governments at regional and local levels work together with providers to improve services, and commit to the final principle of being Outcome Based. Outcome measures are identified and individual wraparound plans are frequently evaluated.