KVC West Virginia is participating in the Safe at Home West Virginia initiative, which was created to bring children that have been in out-of-state and in-state residential treatment facilities back home to their communities. One of the tools that the initiative is using are the ten National Wraparound Initiative Wraparound Principles.  You can find out about other Wraparound Principles here. This is the fourth principle in the series.

PRINCIPLE NUMBER FOUR – COLLABORATION

• The National Wraparound Initiative describes the principle of Collaboration as: “Team members work cooperatively and share responsibility for developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating a single wraparound plan. The plan reflects a blending of team members’ perspectives, mandates, and resources. The plan guides and coordinates each team member’s work towards meeting the team’s goals.”

What this means for families:  All team members work together to meet the team’s common goal. As was discussed in Principle 2, the team members help to form the action plan that the family will use for youth reunification. The plan is very specific about how to achieve the plan goals and different team members are responsible for every part of the plan. The team also meets regularly (at least monthly for Safe at Home) to determine what progress has been made toward the plan goals and how the plan can be modified to ensure success. The team members will be open to learning about other members’ perspectives and how their role affects the youth and family. The discussion is strengths-based and family-focused.

A good example of this would be having a teacher, rabbi, neighbor, social worker, grandmother, and family friend as part of the team. Each of these voices may have a different perspective but should agree to the common goal of supporting the youth and family and their needs. The neighbor may ensure that the youth goes to high school football games on the weekends while the grandmother may help the youth with his homework after school. The rabbi might take the youth to youth group while the teacher may provide additional social opportunities during school events. The team should be flexible enough to work together and find needed additional resources for the family.

To learn more about Safe at Home West Virginia and how you can help West Virginia children, click here. Read about the next principle –  Wraparound Principle Number Five: Community Based.