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History of Wraparound & Systems of Care History of Wraparound
In 1985, officials of the State of Alaska social services, mental health, and education departments sought consultation from Kaleidoscope, and formed the Alaska Youth Initiative, managed by John VanDenBerg. This effort was successful in returning to Alaska almost all youth with complex needs who were placed in out-of-state institutions. The majority of these youth were Eskimo or Indian children. The Alaska efforts were quickly followed by replication attempts in Washington, Vermont, and in more than 30 other states. The Center for Mental Health Services has funded over 60 wraparound/system of care development grants in the United States. It is important to note that essentially similar parallel developments have been occurring simultaneously in other fields. The work of John O’Brien and colleagues in the field of developmental disabilities has led to enormous system improvements through development of needs-based, individualized services in communities. The work of John McKnight and his colleagues on restructuring communities to support individuals with complex needs has been vital to the field. National progress in the field of police reform has led to community policing projects where the role of the officer is similarly tailored to the needs of the local community. State of the art practice in social work and mental health are evolving along parallel lines. Efforts such as the K’E’ project on the Navajo Reservation, and the Sacred Child Project in North Dakota are demonstrating the model with Native American families. |
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 Community Values History of SOC Developmental Levels Training / Coaching |
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 Community Values History of Wraparound Training / Coaching |
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The term "Systems of Care" was first mentioned in the book Systems of Care by Beth Stroul and Robert Friedman (1986). The notion of the need for development of integrated services was first documented in the landmark book Unclaimed Children by Jane Knitzer (1982). Knitzer wrote of the lack of and fragmentation of services for children who were severely emotionally disturbed and their families. At the core of the systems of care concept is the premise that: If children with problems have needs that go across systems (mental health, juvenile justice, schools, child welfare, etc.), then working together will produce better outcomes. Although this sounds simple and makes intuitive sense, systems and agencies have not evolved in this direction. In this age of specialization, agencies and professionals have their own niches and the result has been fragmentation, duplication and lots of children being "unclaimed." Graduate school curriculums only rarely introduce students to systems other than the one their school focuses on, funding is not integrated, agency cultures are different, and turf and egos abound. It is not unusual in the US for a child with problems across systems to have multiple and perhaps conflicting plans of care. When these plans do not work, the family is typically blamed rather than a flawed system. The system of care seeks to establish an integrated system that corrects these problems. One of the first major system of care demonstrations was developed in Stark County Ohio, which was led by VVDB principal Beth Dague. Stark County was followed by dozens of other demonstrations (Lourie, 1994), and the beginnings of research. We honor the following... The LARCH movement going back over 100 years Jane Adams Hull House, going back over 100 years The field of normalization, Wolf Wolfensberger and others The field of developmental disabilities, John O’Brien, Beth Mount, and others The field of special education, including the writers of U.S. public law 94142 The field of community development, including John McKnight and others The NIMH Child and Adolescent Service System, including Ira Lourie, Judith Katz-Leavy and others The Center for Mental Health Services The Training Centers at Georgetown, Portland State University, and the University of South Florida. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, including Mary Jane England, Robert Cole, and others The Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, including Barbara Huff and others Beth Stroul, Robert Friedman John Burchard of the University of Vermont Jane Knitzer John Brown of Canada Naomi Tannen John Whitbeck and Dennis Olsen of Washington State Consultants and pioneers, Mary Grealish, Pat Miles, John Franz, Neal Brown, Richard Donner, and others. Mel Breed and Karl Dennis of Kaleidoscope N.C. Governor Jim Hunt, for his settling of the Willie M. lawsuit and advocacy for kids and the people of North Carolina who implemented it including Lenore Behar and others The state of Alaska, the Alaska Youth Initiative, including Robert Sewell, Barbara Minton, Jackie Rummel, and many many others System of Care innovators in Ventura California including Mario Hernandez and others System of Care innovators in Vermont including Charlie Biss, and Judy Stuvedant Lucille Eber and the educational leaders of the state of Illinois The State of Michigan, Jim Wotring, Mary Ludtke, Lenawee County staff, and many others The Family Council and staff that made collaboration work in Stark County Ohio including Leslie Abel, Beth Dague, and others The people of KANFOCUS, including Penny Boosheri, Mike Ehling, Jan West, Virginia Standley, and others Lynwood Hall Child and Family Centre (Ontario) And the many families and community leaders who have been the real innovators by implementing the system of care and wraparound on a day by day basis, and many others we have inadvertently left off of this list. |
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Vroon VanDenBerg LLP, 10822 Quail Creek Drive
East, Parker, CO 80138
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The basic hypothesis of this field is that if the needs of a
child and family are met, it is likely that the child and family will have a good or at
least an improved life. This hypothesis has been central to life on the planet for
thousands of years, and is certainly not a new concept. However, as the basis for formal
efforts to de-categorize services and improve outcomes, the field has been in development
for approximately 25 years. Some of the formative work came out of efforts by John Brown
and his colleagues in Canada who operated the Brownsdale programs. These programs centered
on the concepts of needs-based, individualized services that were unconditional. These
concepts were utilized in designing the Kaleidoscope program in Chicago which began
implementing private agency-based individualized services in 1975 under director Karl
Dennis. 
