Safe at Home West Virginia is in its second full month of providing services to youth who are currently placed in out of home care or in-state residential care and and are ready to transition home or to a home-like setting. (See related post: KVC WV Selected to Help Children Through New Safe at Home Program.)

Safe at Home West Virginia is the state’s Title IV-E waiver demonstration project that uses Wraparound Principles. These 10 principles were created by the National Wraparound Initiative and put forth as part of reuniting families, achieving permanency, and growing community involvement. This is the fifth principle in the series. (See our previous posts on Family Voice and Choice, Team-Based, Natural Supports and Collaboration)

PRINCIPLE NUMBER FIVE – COMMUNITY BASED

The National Wraparound Initiative describes the principle of being Community Based as:

• “The wraparound team implements service and support strategies that take place in the most inclusive, most responsive, most accessible, and least restrictive settings possible; and that safely promote child and family integration into home and community life.”

What this means for families – families receive services in a location that is convenient and familiar to them. KVC uses Resource Specialists to work with communities and families to ensure that families are aware of and maximizing the use of resources in their own communities. Many times, new services or agencies are available in a community but are unknown, and this limits general knowledge. Our Resource Specialists are from the Safe at Home West Virginia region in which he/she serves, and so this helps in the knowledge of potential resources. The Specialists also reach out to community groups to find unknown or underutilized services and link these to the family. Sometimes these methods are ‘out of the box’ or are different than what a family might normally use. However, the Resource Specialist and other KVC staff help the youth and family to become familiar with these strategies so that they can be used long after they exit the Safe at Home program.

For example, a youth may need transportation to a specific vocational program and the school is not able to provide transportation. The parent works and he is unable to transport the child. KVC Safe at Home WV staff will work with the school system, neighbors, and/or other community service providers to find someone that is able to provide this transportation. The youth is then able to get the vocational training he needs and wants while also remaining in his home and in his community. These seemingly small strategies make a big difference in the success of families and of the Safe at Home West Virginia initiative.

If you would like more information about getting your organization involved with Safe at Home West Virginia, click here. Visit KVC West Virginia’s blog often to learn more about the Wraparound Principles and how Safe at Home West Virginia is bringing them to life.