Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care helps children facing a behavioral health challenge do better at home, in school, in the community, and throughout life.
Focus on wellness
State, tribal, and county agencies are working together to ensure services for mental health and substance use concerns are available to all children through Coordinated Services Teams Initiatives and the Comprehensive Community Services program. The result is a seamless network of services and supports known as wraparound. Wraparound is a planning process that brings people together from different parts of the child’s life. This team creates a wellness plan built around the child’s strengths and needs to meet the goals of the child and their family. The goal is a system of care in which children and families are valued, understood, and supported in their communities.
Information for families
Services and supports for children facing a behavioral health challenge are available in all Wisconsin counties and tribes.
Information for tribal 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
Collaborative Systems of Care Resource Website
Other resources
- National Wraparound Initiative
- Toolkit for Expanding the System of Care Approach (PDF)
- Issue Brief: Updating the System of Care Concept and Philosophy (PDF)
- Issue Brief: Strategies 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.
Wraparound principles
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)
- Tip Sheet: SOC Lead Family Contact
- Youth-Led Participatory Action Research
Team-based
Practice and Process in Wraparound Teamwork
Natural supports
Natural Supports: A Scan of Current Use and Future Opportunities (PDF)
Collaboration
Community-based
Cultural and linguistic responsiveness
National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards
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
- Connecting the Dots: Stages of Implementation, Wraparound Fidelity and Youth Outcomes (PDF)
Readiness
Local leadership
Supporting Wraparound Implementation: Overview (PDF)
Internal partnerships
State of the Field: Wraparound Services (PDF)
Fiscal policies and sustainability
Practice change
Single point of access
Screening, assessment, and intake
Wisconsin County Human Service Association: CCS Toolkit
Care coordination, unified treatment plan
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)
Education and skill building
Evidence-based practices
Staff and human resources development
Coaching, skill building, 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)
CCS and CST oversight in place
CCS/CST coordinating committee structure
- Wis. Stat. ch. 36
- Wis. Stat. § 46.56
- Coordinating Committees: So we’re expected to bring a bunch of people together to talk about what exactly? (PDF)
Consumer, community, and staff champions identified, educated, and encouraged
Wraparound Coaching Manual (PDF)
Parent and youth involvement in committees
- Wisconsin Family Ties
- The Benefits of Parent Involvement: What Research Has to Say (PDF)
- Family-Run Organizations (PDF)
- Participatory Research in Systems of Care for Children’s Mental Health
Family team meeting facilitation
Wraparound Milwaukee: Passport to Wraparound Plan Facilitation (WORD)
Data
Quality improvement evaluation
- The Document Assessment and Review Tool (DART): A New Approach to Assessing Fidelity and Quality of Wraparound Care Coordination (PDF)
- The Document Assessment and Review Tool (DART): Assessing Fidelity in Wraparound
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
Funding
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 of wraparound
- Family voice and choice
- Team-based
- Natural supports
- Collaboration
- Community-based
- Cultural and linguistic responsiveness
- Individualized and developmentally informed
- Strengths-based
- Unconditional
- Outcome-based
Our mission
The Wisconsin Children’s System of Care Initiative will infuse wraparound principles into services for children and families by fostering a process that embraces and supports the collective experiences, knowledge, and resources of all stakeholders.
- 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.
